From Out of the Shadows
by kade32
Summary: Jack is unexpectedly captured and imprisoned by the U.S. military in Area 52 who somehow see him. There, he befriends the monster group and a certain white-haired giantess. The MiM choses him as the new Guardian as an evil alien warlord arrives on Earth to start a world domination plan. Meanwhile, the Boogeyman has a few devious plans of his own. JackxSusan.
1. Chapter 1

**Jack Frost is somehow enchanted for people to see and hear him, which causes him to become a target for a top-secret military facility. He is captured by U.S. military and imprisoned in Area 52 where he meets the ragtag monster group led by the giantess, Susan Murphy, who has also been captured. The Guardians try to find a way to break him out and join them as the new Guardian. Meanwhile, Gallaxhar, an evil alien tyrant, plots to enslave humanity and rule the Earth. Meanwhile, Pitch Black, aka the Boogeyman, has a few tricks up his sleeve to engulf the world in eternal darkness as the aliens invade in attempt to crush their belief in the** **Guardians.**

 **Do you like it? I'm totally shipping Jack and Susan together, because they both have white hair that was originally brown prior to their transformations and have blue eyes. Jacusan, Ginormifrost, BigWinter, can't think of a good shipping name for them. Await for the chapters to come! Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Monsters vs. Aliens or Rise of the Guardians. DreamWorks does. This is the presumably the first and only fanfic of Jack and Susan as a couple. Seriously, am I the only one to think of this?** **Anyway, read and review! PM me, I don't care. Just let me know if you like it. This is dedicated to Cafcow from DeviantArt, hence the photo presented above.**

* * *

 _"Darkness. That's the first thing I remember."_

During a cold, wintry night in the Colonial times, the silhouette of a body was floating upwards inside a lake into a ray of moonlight. It was a young male, roughly in his teens, with brown spiky hair that was turning silvery white and pale skin. He wore a long-sleeved white shirt with a brown vest, a brown cape and brown pants and was barefoot

 _"It was dark and I was cold. And I was scared."_

The young boy's eyes winced as they almost opened up to the blinding light in his eyes. The surface of the water was frozen solid as the boy drifted up, spider-web cracks form in the place of his body and he slowly broke through the ice as if were made of paper and out of the water. He gasped for air as he levitated into the air, bathing in the moonlight.

 _"But then I saw the moon. It was so big and it was so bright and it seemed to chase the darkness away. And when it did, I wasn't scared anymore."_

He lowered back down to the ice as gentle as a feather. The hole he came through magically froze back over once his bare toes touched the frozen surface of water. The boy kept his balance to avoid slipping and falling and confusedly looked at his hands to see them a pale and sickly white shade like a snowflake; a few purple veins were probably visible, if noticeable.

 _"Why I was there and what I was meant to do, that I'll never known. And a part of me wonders if I ever will."_

He caught a glimpse of the full moon in all it's luminous glory, as if noticing it for the first time. He takes a few steps forward, only to almost slip, but he regained himself. Still observing the moon, he felt his foot touch something on the ice. Looking down, he sees what appears to be a stick, but not any average stick. With no exception at all, it was perfectly straight in shape and had a curve at the end that looked like a "G". When his toes touched it, the peculiar thing glowed a bright blue glow. How strange, he thought. Out of curiosity, he grabs the staff in his hands and in doing so, the staff glowed bright. Startled, he jumps letting the staff touch the ground and when it did, frost patterns form in the place it came in contact with. His eyes sparked with interest and confusion. The boy touches a couple trees with it, engulfing the bark with frost just like on the ice.

He felt giddy and excited like a child at Christmas. He runs across the ice laughing happily with excitement as he dragged the end of the staff behind him, spreading more frost in his wave. He tired in circles, almost dancing and then all of the sudden, he was lifted into the air by a sudden strong gust of wind. The boy was frightened at first, flailing around, fearing that he might fall, but he remained in the air with his arms out and looked below at his frosty creation upon the lake. He then plummet back down to earth, but fell onto a snowy branch, grabbing onto it tightly. He chuckled, having had some fun from the experience. That's when he noticed the light of a village not too far ahead. Remembering how he flew in the air before, he tried it again with some difficulty and made a rocky landing in the village. He stood up to see some settlers warming their hands by campfire. No one seemed to notice the boy, in fact, no even saw him fly. He laughed and strolled around the settlement, passing some people.

"Hello! Hello!" He greeted, but none of them greeted back or even acknowledged him.

"Good evening, ma'm." The boy said to a woman, but she didn't answer. "Ma'am?"

Then a young villager boy rushes toward him and he felt relieved to see someone notice him at least.

"Oh, ah, excuse me." He told the boy. "Can you tell me where I am-?"

But then, to his surprise, the child ran right through him, as if he were a ghost or something that wasn't there. He gasped at what had happened. The boy was shocked and gobsmacked and even more so when more townsfolk passed through him. He desperately cried out to them, trying his best to get their attention, but once again, received no response from anyone. He didn't know what to say, what to think or how to feel at this point. But one thing's for sure, he was not happy about this. Nature answered his downtrodden emotions with the fall of snow. Now understanding that he probably died and turned into a ghost, he walked away from the town.

 _"My name is Jack Frost. How do I know that? The moon told me so. But that was all he ever told me. And that was a long, long time ago."_

* * *

 **300 Years Later**

The blustery winds of Antartica whistled and howled, followed by the gust of wind and the rapid fall of snow. There stood the US Outpost FAB220 in the middle of the icy expense of ice and inside were two regular men who were just slacking off on their job, sitting inside a room of computers and sonars. Music was playing on the radio. One bearded man was just casually sitting in his chair, foot on the counter and playing with a paddleball while the bespectacled guy behind him was playing a game on the computer. But then an alarm caught his attention and he shot up from his posture in the chair, shut the radio off and searched his laptop for the source.

"Hey, Jerry?" He called to the person behind. "You might wanna check this out. Palomar just picked it up. Looks like some type of UFO and it's heading this way."

True to his word, on his laptop showed a tracker showing Earth in orbit and there was a small round object nearing it slowly.

Jerry groaned, sliding over to him in his rolling chair and said, "How many times do I have to tell you this? UFOs don't exist and we're never gonna see-"

But once he looked at the screen his co-worker was observing, his eyes grew wide and he quickly got up from his chair and checked the sonars.

"Wow, it's energy signature is massive." The bearded guy replied with interest and shock at the same time.

"Oh, Cheez-Its!" exclaimed Jerry, panicking. "What do we do?! No one told us what to do! THE ONLY REASON I TOOK THIS JOB BECAUSE YOU NEVER HAVE TO DO ANYTHING!"

"Jerry, stop it!" His work mate hissed and returned his attention to the tracker. "Let me calculate it's impact point. Looks like..."

Punching the keys on his laptop, the tracker revealed where the supposed UFO would soon land, which was...

"...Modesto, California." He finished as he looked at Jerry with widened eyes who immediately grabbed the phone to call his supervisor.

"Supernova, this is Red Dwarf!" He said as his voice broke with fear. "We actually have one! Code Nimoy! I repeat, CODE NIMOY!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the peaceful suburban neighborhood of Modesto, California during the night, an unseen figure was advancing slowly into someone's house. As it entered through the front door, it produced low breathing, slurping noises and made some flashes. It slowly crept through a dark hallway, looking at the frames on the wall, many of them depicted a family that presumably lives in the house. Making it's way over to the door at the end of the hall that is left a crack open, it entered a dark bedroom. A young woman with dark brown, shoulder-length hair was sleeping in her bed peacefully until she felt the figure's presence before her. She reached for the lamp on her nightstand and flipped it on. Once she could see how it was, she let out a scream. The figure was actually three women dressed in golden dresses with spaghetti straps and they screamed as well, but with delight. The breathing was from the red-haired woman with asthma as she used her inhaler. The slurping was from the black-haired woman as she sipped some coffee and the flashing was the blonde snapping photos. The woman in bed shielded her eyes from another flash.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked in confusion and checked the time. "It's 5:00 in the morning."

"Hurry! Turn on the TV! Turn it on now!" urged the red-haired woman with excitement.

Although taken aback by the situation, she turned on the television in front of her bed to show the news channel forecasting the weather. A stunningly handsome man with smooth, wavy brown hair named Derek Dietl was announcing the forecast.

"...and some early morning fog, giving away to sunny skies." announced Derek. The woman joined her friends in front of the TV. "75 degrees. A perfect day to stop by the old folk art and craft show and down at the fairgrounds or a perfect day to marry Susan Murphy."

Susan smiled at the TV and at her fiancée.

"I love you, baby." Derek smiled at the camera, hopefully at Susan, making a heart with his fingers.

"I love you, too." Susan cooed. Her friends aww'ed at the scene and so did the anchorman and anchorwoman.

"And good morning, Modesto!" Derek shouted on TV. Then a photo of a farmer standing next to a large pumpkin appeared on the screen to the right which read "Channel 172".

Susan and two of her friends all posed and smiled while the blonde took their picture.

* * *

 **As you can see, I'm mixing the two movies together into one. Please read and review.**


	3. Chapter 3

Later on, Susan was getting prepared at a beauty salon to look beautiful for her wedding. The stylists were applying red lipstick, eyeshadow, nail polish, etc. When they were finished, they turned her around to face her mother and three friends. She held up her hands, flashing her nails as they got a good look at her. Her mother, Wendy, gasped in surprise and delight when she saw her daughter's new look.

"You look gorgeous, sweetheart!" She said happily.

"Thanks, mom." said Susan, smiling.

* * *

After her makeover and putting on her wedding gown, she arrived at the local church in a black limousine where her father, Carl, was waiting for her. She opened the door to see her father standing there with a big smile.

"Ah, my little girl!" He smiled with open arms.

"Daddy!" cried Susan with glee, jumping into her father's arms, hugging him.

"Now, I want you to know that, even though I'm about to give you away..." Carl said sniffling. "...I will always be there for you."

"Oh, don't cry." Susan moaned, starting to cry as well. "You'll make me cry too and that's just gonna be a mess."

"I can't help it!" Carl sobbed as he walking towards the church with her.

Wendy, wearing a red dress, entered the church with Susan and Carl following behind. Cameras flashed once she spoke, "Hello, everyone! Attention, attention! Wedding starts in 30 minutes!"

Susan was greeted a short, elderly woman in a purple dress and sunhat. "My beautiful daughter-in-law!" She laughed.

"Hi, Mama Dietl." said Susan, smiling at Derek's mother and her soon-to-be mother-in-law.

"It's like a fairy tale." Mrs. Dietl crowed. "The Weatherman and the Weatherman's Wife. Romantic."

"I know." Susan sighed dreamily. "Just think, this time tomorrow, I'm gonna be in Paris! And someday, we won't just be honeymooning there. Derek will become an anchor or a foreign correspondent. And we'll travel all over the world."

"Honey, my fingers are crossed." Mrs. Dietl grinned showing her crossed fingers. But Susan's eyes fell upon her right thumb which was unnaturally smaller than normal. This creeped her out.

"One thumb's shorter than the other. It runs in the family." explained Mrs. Dietl wiggling her thumbs.

"Derek doesn't have that." Susan said.

"It skips a generation." replied Mrs. Dietl, laughing. "Your kids are gonna have it!"

Susan didn't want to bring that image into her head so she forced a smile and strained chuckle.

* * *

She stood outside of the church under a gazebo. Giving a sigh of happiness, she contemplated the wonderful things she hoped she was going to experience. Her life with Derek. She will probably have beautiful children with him, own a luxurious mansion in Paris, even become a famous celebrity if possible. She always wanted to be a fashion designer. It's been her dream since high school. Living out her deepest desires with the man she loved. It couldn't get any better than this, could it? Soon her thoughts were cut off by a familiar voice.

"Wow, you look beautiful." She gasped and saw her future husband smiling at her.

"So do you." Susan grinned. "I mean, handsome. I mean,...sorry. I'm just a little frazzled. I just spent way too much time with our parents."

"Don't worry, okay?" Derek asked, grabbing her hands. "We'll be alone soon. Just us."

Susan hummed dreamily and twirled around. "Eating cheese and baguettes by the Seine, feeding each other's chocolate crepes." She smiled warmly as her beloved held her in his arms. She exhaled a soft, contented sigh.

"Uh..." said Derek confused.

"Is something wrong?" Susan asked him concerned.

"No, no! It's just that, well..." He scratched the back of his neck. "There's been a slight change of plans. We're not going to Paris."

Her eyes grew wide as dinner plates at the news. "What? Why not?" She demanded.

"Because we're going somewhere better." He smiled.

"Better than Paris?" She asked with hope.

"Oh, yeah." He nodded.

"Where? Tahiti?!" asked Susan excitedly.

"Nope. Fresno." Derek answered.

"Fresno!" She said giving this some thought. Instead of Paris, they were going some place that was less than what she had hoped for. "Fresno. In what universe is Fresno better than Paris, Derek?"

"In the "I've got an audition to become Channel 23's new evening anchor" universe." said Derek laughed and sounded elated. "I got a call from the general manager! He wants me to come in immediately! Isn't that great?"

Susan felt a bit disappointed that she wasn't going to Paris, but was happy for him nonetheless.

"Derek!" She said before lighting back up. "That's...amazing! It's amazing!"

She gave him a hug and asked, "Fresno's a top 50 market, isn't it?"

"It's 55th, but we're on our way, babe!" Derek cheered, kissing her knuckles. "Now, look. About Paris..."

"It's okay." chuckled Susan, waving it off. "It's fine! As long as we're together. Fresno is the most romantic city in the whole world. I'm so proud of you."

"Of us!" Derek corrected. "Not just of me. I mean, of course, but we're a team now. You're so proud of us."

Susan grinned and playfully shoved him. "Now get out of here!" She told him. "It's bad luck to see me in my dress."

"Oh, come on! You know I don't believe in that stuff." said Derek as he walked away back to the church. "I'll be waiting for you at the altar. The handsome news anchor in the tux!"

He marched off. "Love ya! There I said it!" His departing voice cried.

"I love you, too." Susan said back softly with a smile.

She stood there thinking about her future. Maybe Fresno wouldn't be too bad. It's not Paris, but wherever Derek is, she will be. But then she heard an unusual sound. Susan looked up in the sky to see a meteorite glowing a teal color and it was falling in her direction. She freaked out and ran away, in attempt to escape it's impact. But as she ran, the meteorite got closer and closer as she fled deeper into the meadow. Running out of breath, she stopped and the strange glowing rock lands right on top of her. It's teal glow fades. Back near the church, Wendy came out searching for Susan.

"Susan!" She called and looked around. "Oh, where could she be? Susan! Where are you?"

And then she saw her, slowly coming back up the hill. Her appearance was a bit disheveled; her dress was dirty, her hair was a tangled mess and she staggered up the hill unsteadily as if she were drunk. Her mother rushed to her, grabbing her arm.

"Susan! Where have you been?!" demanded Wendy as she brushed her daughter's dress.

"I think I just got hit by a meteorite." said Susan, woozily.

"Oh, Susan." Wendy sighed. "Every bride feels that way on her wedding day."

Wendy lead her back to the church as she reprimanded Susan. "My goodness! Look at you! You're filthy! Thank god, I have wet ones."

As they entered the church doors, a black vehicle parked in front of the building and a group of men marched out of the back with weapons of some sort.

* * *

Carl opened the doors to the altar while Wendy was preparing Susan after putting her in a spare gown and her veil. An elderly woman by the piano takes notice of their presence and begin playing "The Wedding March (Here Comes the Bride)". Everyone stood as Susan slowly walked up with her father to the alter where Derek was waiting; veil covering her face and holding a bouquet with yellow flowers. She finally came face to face with her husband-to-be as he lifted her veil. But when he did, he noticed something off about her.

"Wow." exclaimed Derek in shock. "You're glowing."

True to his word, her eyes began to give off a strange green glow which then engulfed her body. She smiled, taking his words as a compliment. "Thank you." She cooed.

"No, Susan, you're like really glowing. You're green!"

Confused, she looked at her hands and gasped when she saw he was right. Suddenly, she felt her entire body start to expand and she started to grow.

"Oh, no. Derek!" She cried with fear gripping her voice and brain.

She couldn't tell what was happening right now. Everyone, including Derek, watched in horror as the bride increased in size.

"Oh my gosh!" Wendy said frightened.

Susan's gown started to tear and rip as she got bigger and bigger by the second. Her brown hair start to turn platinum blonde, adding to the confusion.

"What's going on?" Derek asked. "What's happening here?"

"You're all shrinking!" shouted Susan.

"No, you're growing!" Derek shouted up to her.

"Well, make it stop!"

"Get me the government!" The reverend said on his phone as he smashed through the window.

"This is impossible!" Susan's voice boomed, her voice getting louder as she got even larger. When she grew another inch, her wedding garter snapped off and smacked into one of the attendees.

"No, this can't be happening!" Susan said as her hand broke through the front window. Then everyone panicked and started to run for the exit.

"Wait, wait, everybody, it's okay!" cried Susan as she tried to calm them down. "Have some champagne while we're figuring this out!"

"Thumbs! Thumbs!" Mrs. Dietl screamed as she tried to open the door, but her small thumb did little to help. But then the screaming crowd barreled into her, enough the brake through the doors as they made their escape from the madness. Susan looked down at Derek with worry.

"Derek! Help me!"

Her giant size was beginning to smash through the church. Derek dodged some collapsing beams before one knocked him out. Suddenly, the wooden structure of the church gave in and the now-enormous Susan stood upon the wreckage as the bell tower fell to the ground.

"Here comes the bride!"

"Oh, Carl! It's her wedding day!" screamed Wendy before some men in black grabbed her and Carl.

"Derek! Derek!" Susan shouted for her love. She lifted the beams off of him as he winced in pain.

"Beam hurt Derek." He said when Susan picked him up. "Susan?"

"Thank goodness, you're okay." She said with relief. "What's happening to me?"

"Don't worry! Don't panic!" He assured her. "Whatever you do, don't drop-"

The soldiers shot grabbling hooks at her, grabbing onto her arm, making her drop Derek. The agents placed a trampoline under him, breaking his fall.

"Who are you people? What are you doing?" asked Susan, trying to get free. She forced them to let go when she saw them take Derek away. "Stop it! Be careful!"

"Get off me!" Derek growled. "Do you know who I am?"

"Please leave me alone! OW!" Susan begged when they suddenly fired a large syringe into the back of her thigh, below her butt. She yanks it out and throws at the feet of a soldier.

The tranquilizer took full effect as Susan began to feel woozy and weak. She tried to take a few steps, only for the agents to trip her and tie ropes around her ankles, causing her to fall flat on her stomach on the ground. The soldiers tied more grappling hooks around her, tying her down.

"Derek." She moaned reaching a hand out to him. The last thing she saw before she shut her eyes as the look of horror on Derek's face as he saw what she had become.

"Alright, let's get this baby on the bus." Ordered a voice over walkie-talkies.

* * *

 **Poor Susan turned into a giantess on her wedding day after being hit by that meteorite. Wait and see what happens next. Read and** **review!**


	4. Chapter 4

From on top of a group of frozen mountains of the North Pole, there stood a large, incredible fortress with old Russian architecture. This was the home of the man who delivered present to the good children on Christmas. The man known as St. Nicholas and Father Christmas. The man named Santa Claus. His real name was Nicholas St. North or North as the other Guardians named him. He was the Guardian of Wonder. He was in his office inside of his workshop listening and humming to gypsy violin music on an old record player. He had the words "Naughty" and "Nice" tattooed on both of his arms. He starts up a chainsaw and shears off a block of ice.

"Still waiting for cookies!" He called in a Russian accent to a group of elves behind him who were huddled around a plate of cookies, licking some of the treats.

They froze in fear when they heard their boss shouted out. North sits in his rolling chair, humming to the music as he did, grabbing some of his small tools. He chiseled and hampered away at the smaller block of ice. Looking through an eyepiece as he sculpted his work, he puts his small tools down and lifted up his masterpiece; a small ice train. He blow the reaming ice off it and placed it on an ice track. It whistled and chugged down the tracks. Two elves finally arrived with the cookies. One of them was eating one and the other sternly pointed at the plate with a cross look, gesturing for him to put it back. The other elf opens it's mouth and spills the half-eaten morsels onto the plate.

"Ah, finally!" exclaimed North, grabbing one of the cookies and taking a bite.

He sat up in his chair, chuckling as he watched the train pass him. It hits a loop and launched off a ramp and into the air. Wing sprouted from it and jet engines as the locomotive flies across the air. North cheers at his work. But then the door flung open, smacking the flying train away and in pops a yeti with urgent news.

"Arghbal!"

The small locomotive shatters into pieces on the floor.

"Ach!" North cried.

He looks devastated, seeing the sculpture he had just made get destroyed. The yeti whimpers at his little mistake, covering his mouth and eyes in shame. North inhaled deeply to collect himself from that minor setback and calmly turns to the yeti.

"How many times have I told you to KNOCK!?" North demanded sternly.

"Warga blarghgha!"

"What?" North asked in shock. "The Globe?"

North grabbed twin swords and made his over to the globe room, passing through the small crowd of elves.

"Shoo with your pointy heads." said North. "Why are you always under boot?"

North walked past his two yetis standing with watchful eyes in front of a console of controls and switches and stood in front of a large globe. It had a bunch of small lights and some sort of Cyrillic lettering on it. Most of the lights flickered.

"What is this?" whispered North. "Have you checked the axis? Is rotation balanced?

The yetis shrugged in response and everyone halted as a wind picked up in the workshop, seemingly out of nowhere. Then a huge blanket of black sand crawls over the globe and shrouds it all into pitch darkness. The elves panicked as the black sand covered the entire globe and North stared in abject outrage. The sand then gathered up on the top go the globe, swirling around quickly and bursts before disappearing. The wind dies down and then a shadow whips across the floor behind North which forms into a shape of a man as it circles the globe. A chilling echo of laughter can be heard before the figure vanishes.

"Can it be?" asked North gravely. "Dingle!"

A few elves stepped up gleefully, a few pointing at each other.

"Make preparations! We're going to have company." North grabbed a large lever, twists it and pushes it down, sending a wave of energy over the globe as it zooms up the axis shaft out from the tallest steeple of the entire fortress. The northern lights spread outward, signaling the other Guardians of Childhood, legendary icons of childhood imagination dedicated to protect the children of the world as long as they belief in them.

* * *

A tiny hummingbird-like fairy with blue, green and yellow-colored feathers flittered about in a young boy's room as the child slept in his bed. The fairy flew underneath the boy's pillow and came out the other side holding a loose tooth. Somewhere in Asia, an entire flock of hummingbird fairies fluttered over to an exquisite and luxurious-looking palace in the mountains that had Indian-Asian style decor. Each one carried a single tooth to be placed in cylinder-shaped boxes with pictures of a child's teeth along with the rest of said child's lost teeth. The one in charge of the operation was the Tooth Fairy. She was the Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies, collector of children's memories that are contained in their teeth and the Guardian of Memories. Her real name was Toothiana or "Tooth" for short. She leaves coins underneath the children's pillows or even a dollar if they'd done a good job at taking care of their teeth. She was giving out locations to her fairies of loose teeth.

"...We've got a cuspid at 23 Maple. Head out! Wait! It's her first tooth! Have you ever seen a more adorable lateral incisor in all of your life?" squeaked Tooth with delight as she held one particular tooth. "Look how she flossed!"

One of her fairies gestured her attention towards the aurora borealis in the distance. Her eyebrows narrowed in thought as she flapped her wings and darted off into the direction of the North Pole with a few fairies coming with her.

* * *

" _My fellow Guardians, it is our job to watch over the children of the world, and keep them safe, to bring wonder, hope, and dreams. And so, I've called us all here for one reason and one reason only. The children are in danger._ "

Floating above the clouds in the night sky over a sleeping city, a small, golden man stood upon a mass of golden dreamsand and sending out long tendrils of dreamsand everywhere. This was the Sandman or "Sandy" as the other Guardians called him. He was the Guardian of Dreams and his job was to bring good dreams to children as she slept during the night. Looking behind him to see the aurora borealis, he formed his sand cloud into a biplane. He adjusted his goggles and flew off.

* * *

" _An enemy we have kept at bay for centuries has finally decided to strike back! We alone who can stop him._ "

With lightning speed, a large and fluffy figure hopped through an underground tunnel past three Easter eggs with tiny legs. It was blueish/grey with tattoo-like patterns in it's fur, long ears and a little fluffy tail. He was known as the Easter Bunny, the Guardian of Hope and the deliver of Easter eggs. His real name was E. Aster Bunnymund and he was the icon of the holiday, Easter. Living inside of a warren underneath Australia, he made and painted Easter eggs to be delivered around the world for children to find. Bunny hopped his way out of a whole and into the frozen landscape of the North Pole. But he started to freeze from the bitter cold.

"Ugh, it's freezing!" He shivered with an Australian accent and hopped over to North's fortress, trying his best to ignore the cold, numb feeling in his feet. "Oh! Oh, I can't feel my feet! I can't feel my feet!"

"Cookies? Eggnog, anyone?" offered North to his fellow Guardians.

Everyone gathered in the globe room in North's workshop as Sandy flew his biplane around the globe before he made it vanished, Bunny was trying to warm himself from being in the cold so long while Tooth was chattering incoherently to her fairies. Bunny hopped over to the fireplace and Sandy created signs out of his dreamsand above his head at North as a means of communication. He doesn't physically talk as he is afraid of waking the children.

"I know, I know." North exclaimed to Sandy. "But I obviously wouldn't have called you all here unless it was serious. The boogeyman was here! At the Pole!"

The Guardians looked toward him in disbelief.

"Pitch?" gasped Tooth. "Pitch Black? Here?"

"Yes." North nodded. "There was black sand covering the globe..."

"Wait, what do you mean "black sand"?" interrupted Bunny.

"And then a shadow..." continued North.

"Hold up, hold up." Bunny butted in again. "I thought you said you saw Pitch."

"Well, not exactly." North replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Not exactly?" Bunny scoffed. "Can you believe his guy?"

Sandy formed a question mark above his head, indicating his confusion.

"Yeah, you said it, Sandy." chuckled Bunny, working on an egg.

"Look." North sighed. "He's up to something very bad. I feel it...in my belly."

He gestured to his stomach to prove his point. Now Bunny was getting confusion and a little peeved over the fact that maybe North saw nothing and summoned them for no reason.

"Hang on, hang on. You mean to say that you've summoned me here three days before Easter because of your belly?" asked Bunny annoyed. "Mate, if I did the same to you three days before Christmas-!"

"Bunny, Easter is on Christmas." North cut in smugly, taking the egg Bunny was painting.

The 30-foot tall rabbit chuckled sarcastically. "Here we go." He deadpanned. "North, I don't have time for this!"

North and Bunny always seemed to butt heads over which of their holidays was the best. As the two holidays spirits argued, Sandy just wordlessly watched them while an elf was drinking from his eggnog. He takes notice and yanks his cup away, causing the egg to fall to the ground. Then he saw the full moon in the open window above, slowly peering into view. This could mean the Man in the Moon was trying to tell them something. Sandy waved his arms around to get their attention, but because he couldn't even utter a single syllable, he had no luck. He tried whistling, conjuring up a music note in the process, but, otherwise, made no sound.

"...You've got all year to prepare!"

"Why are rabbits always so nervous?" grumbled North.

"Why are you always such a blowhard?" Bunny shot back.

Tooth flittered by them still giving out locations of lost teeth to her fairies.

"Tooth!" North shouted. "Can't you see we are trying to argue?"

"Sorry! Not all of us get to work one night a year. Am I right, Sandy?"

The short golden man conjured up an arrow pointing upwards toward the Moon, but once again, his message didn't go through.

"Oh! San Diego, sector 2..."

"Come on, mate. Pitch went down in the Dark Ages. We made sure of that."

Sandy let out a sigh, wondering how he was going get them to see what was going on if he can use his words, if he had any. Sometimes he detested not using words, even in situations where speech is required. It was just one of the joys of being the Sandman. Then he noticed an elf licking an empty cup which gave him an idea. He floated over, picked the elf up by it's hat and shook it furiously, making a jingle loud enough for the others to hear them. When the Guardians silenced and finally had eyes on him, Sandy presents a moon symbol above his head with a choleric face and jabbed a finger at the Moon. Everyone looked up at the window to see the full moon in plain view.

"Ah! Man in Moon!" North cried in realization. "Sandy, why didn't you say something?"

Sandy was furiously annoyed that they forget he couldn't speak and sand bursted out of his ears like how a cartoon character would get angry.

"It's been long time, old friend." said North to the Man in the Moon. "What is big news?"

The Moon shined a bright beam of it's luminous moonlight towards the circle center in the hardwood floor which presented a large "G" emblem and pictures of each Guardian around the circle. A shadow of the Boogeyman himself known as Pitch Black appeared on the floor in the moonlight, indicating the truth about North's news.

"It is Pitch." Bunny breathed.

North patted his belly with a nod. "Manny, what must we do?"

The Man in the Moon responded by shining it's light right on the G on the circle. The center of the circle opened up and a large clear crystal rose from the floor and glowed in the moonlight.

"Uh, guys? You know what this means?" asked Tooth knowingly.

"He's choosing a new Guardian." North gasped with surprise.

"What? Why?" asked Bunny.

"Must be big deal? Manny thinks we need help."

"Since when do we need help?"

"I wonder who it's gonna be." chirped Tooth. "Maybe the Leprechaun?"

Sandy backed her up by showing a 4-leaf clover about his head.

"Please not the Groundhog, please not the Groundhog, please not the Groundhog..." Bunny prayed quietly to himself with crossed fingers.

The light shined bright and then a glowing blue figure began to form above the crystal. North watched with wide eyes and baited breath hopefully. Once the figure was finished, it depicted a familiar young figure.

"Jack Frost?" exclaimed North.

A couple of fairies swooned and fainted at the sight.

"Uh, I take it back. The Groundhog's fine." Bunny spoke with worry.

Tooth swooned herself with a dreamy look on her face like a young teenage girl in high school with a crush on the star quarterback. But then she realized what she was thinking and she regained herself.

"Uh, as long as she promises to protect the children, right?" She stuttered meekly.

"Jack Frost!?" cried Bunny in despair. "He doesn't care about children! All he does is freeze water pipes and mess with me egg hunts! Alright? He's an irresponsible, selfish-!"

"Guardian." finished North with a hand on his chin in thought.

"Jack Frost is many things, but he is not a Guardian!"

* * *

Meanwhile in a Russian city, a mysterious unseen force taps the end tip of a staff against a power generator, sending all-too-familiar first patterns everywhere. It travels across a street and pedestrian carrying groceries slipped and fell. Some children stood by the water fountain when the ice travels up the fountain and freezes the water as one boy was about the drink from it, getting his tongue stuck to the ice while he two friends laughed. Then mischievous laughter can be heard as the frost travelled elsewhere, around the street causing more people to slip, up the wall of a building where a young boy's fish tank freezes with the fish inside. A strong blows a person's papers out the window as he cries out in protest in Russian. The frost crept across a clothes line, scaring some pigeons away. The familiar figure of the one they call Jack Frost flew up to the top of a steeple. He wore a blue hooded sweater with snowflake patterns and carried his staff around.

"Now that was fun." He chuckled. "Hey, wind!"

A strong gust of wind roared towards him in response.

"Take me home!" Jack shouted and let the wind carry him through the air as he let out an excited yell. He was taken over to the town of Burgess, Pennsylvania, bringing the snowflakes and cold breeze with him.

"Snow day!" He shouted with glee to his heart's content.

Jack soared around in the air, leaving frost in his wake as the citizens shivered from the cold. But this did not vex him. He was actually quite known for bringing the snow and he might've gotten a little too used to his powers over the years. He skated across the frozen lake where he first awoke and began who he was today and sent out a strong breeze that blew a book out a boy's hands. He was named Jamie Bennett and he was a proud believer. Jack got a good look at the book he was reading. It was about certain myths like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, etc.

"That looks interesting."

Jamie picked his book up and brushed it up as his two of his friends, Claude and Caleb, two African-American twins, ran past him and Jamie rushed to catch up.

"You're welcome." Jack shrugged.

"Wait up!" Jamie shouted. "Are you guys coming to the egg hunt, Sunday?"

"Yeah!"

"How are we gonna find eggs with all this snow?" asked Claude.

Jamie climbed through the board fence into the yard of his house as he read, "It says here that they found Big Foot hair samples and DNA! In Michigan! That's like super-close!"

"Here we go again." Claude sighed.

"You saw that video, too, Claude." said Jamie grabbing his sled. "He's out there."

Jack watched the children while standing on the top of the fence.

"And the Easter Bunny." joked Claude.

"The Easter Bunny is real." Jamie argued playfully.

"Oh, he's real, alright." Jack agreed smirking. "Real annoying, real grumpy and really full-of-himself."

Jamie's friends took off in their winter clothes while chuckling at Jamie's hellbent belief in mythical beings.

"Bunny! Hop, hop, hop!" cried his toddler sister, Sophie as she jumped up and down on the steps.

Their pet greyhound, Abby, pushed past Sophie, making her fall down.

"OW!"

"Mom, Sophie fell again!" Jamie shouted.

"Are you okay, Soph?" asked Mrs. Bennett as she came to her daughter's aide while she began to sob.

"Jamie, hat!"

He stopped and groaned as his mother put a winter cap on his head.

"Don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose."

"Who's Jack Frost?"

"No one, honey. It's just an expression."

"Hey!" Jack cried offended.

The children went to play in the snow when Jack grabbed a handful of snow on the ground.

"Who's Jack Frost?" He mimicked and blew on his snowball with his ice breath before he swung it high in the air and it hit Jamie's back. His eyes gave off blue sparkles and he started to laugh.

"Okay, who threw that?" asked Jamie laughing.

"Well, I sure wasn't Bigfoot, kiddo." Jack said to him, landing next to the children even though they couldn't see or hear him, let alone touch him.

Jamie made a snowball and hit the nerdy, bespectacled Monty with it and hit Pippa, the tall girl wearing a beanie, next. They both laughed in amusement.

"Jamie Bennett, no fair!" She mock-pouted.

"You struck first!" He defended.

Then more snowballs were thrown at the children as Jack joined in on the fun.

"Free for all!" He shouted and ran around, waving his staff across the ground to make more snowballs. "Okay, who needs ammo?"

The snowball fight got bigger and the children laughed as they fought. But then one snowball hit the head of Cupcake, a tough, heavyset 3rd grader who was feared by the rest of the kids. She slowly turned, growling angrily with grit teeth and gunslinger eyes, ready to pound whoever hit her. The other children froze in fear.

"Oh, crud!" Pippa panicked. "I hit Cupcake."

"She hit Cupcake." Monty pointed at her.

"You hit Cupcake?" Claude whimpered.

Jamie laid still on the ground, covering himself with his sled in case she tries to attack him. Cupcake's burning eyes darted everyone, looking for the culprit when she was smacked in the face by a snowball. The children winced in fright and started making excuses, trying not to get beat up. Jack Frost, the one who threw it, stood on top his staff like bird sitting on a telephone wire. Cupcake's eyes sparkled and then her tough-girl exterior collapsed and she started laughing with joy. She joined the rest of the children in their fun and games. She chased after them after them carrying the head of a snowman. Jack caught up and used his powers to created a slippery path in front of Jamie, making him slip and slide across the ground while his friends watched with fear.

Jack flew Jamie into the air and back into the icy path through the street, narrowly avoiding cars and past pedestrians.

"Is that Jamie Bennett?" A woman asked.

They slid past a familiar black van and the men inside of it caught sight of Jamie sliding past them on his sled with lightning speed. They even saw Jack as well! But how was this possible? Jack helped Jamie slide past, avoiding a vehicle and the boy slide off a now ramp into the air. The children and Jack watched him as he landed smack into the snow next to the statue of Thaddeus Burgess.

"Yeah!" He cheered as he perched on the statue.

Jamie's friend checked to make sure if he was okay and he stood up with excitement.

"Woah! Did you guys see that? It was amazing! I slid and I did a jump and I slid under a-"

Suddenly, he was struck by a couch that fell off a moving van. Jack winced.

"Whoops."

Jamie came out with a tooth in his head that got knocked out from the impact.

"Cool! A tooth!"

His friends went on about the Tooth Fairy and how she leaves cash, making Jack's cheerful nature falter. They were still going on about the other Guardians and leaving him still unnoticed.

"Oh, no." He groaned.

"I gotta put this under my pillow." Jamie smiled and left with his friends.

"Wait a minute, come on! Hold on, hold on! What about all the fun we just had? That wasn't the Tooth Fairy, that was me!" Jack tried his best to get their attention, but once again, they went through him like he was a ghost as they did the previous attempts. Jack truly was alone. No one to talk to, no one to hear him, just him alone.

* * *

Later that night, Jack watched through the window, seeing Jamie go on about his experience earlier today in his room to Sophie. He was even trying to stay up with his little sister to get to see Tooth while their mother wanted them to get to sleep. Jack sighed and stood up on the roof with the hood over his head. Every year, Jack has been trying to get children to see him. He's tried everything he could to get their attention, but to no avail. It's like no one's ever heard of him. Like he was forgotten or something. The other Guardians get all the attention and praise just because they get toys and candy eggs and coins. It wasn't fair. He looked up at the Moon as it shined bright.

"If there's something I'm doing wrong, could you just tell me what it is? Because I've tried everything! And no one ever sees me!" He told the Moon, but got no answer.

"You put me here! The least you can do is tell me...tell me why." He tried again, but still no answer as expected.

Poor Jack as tried several times to talk to the Moon, only to receive the silent treatment. He walked along a telephone wire, leaving frost patterns with each step he toke. And then he noticed the familiar golden tendrils going around and he let out a chuckle, knowing what it was.

"Right on time, Sandman."

Jack followed one tendril down the wire and put his hand up, letting the dreamsand follow throw his hand, which it, in response, conjured a dolphin as it splashed around and chirped, making Jack laugh. The tendrils made there way all over Burgess. One of them entered Cupcake's room which was full of pink and the usual things any young girl would have. Not something you'd expect a tough brute like her to have. The dreamsand swirled around her head and gave her a dream about her astride a unicorn. Cupcake smiled and giggled in her sleep. But the happy moment was interrupted when a mass of blackness appeared under her bed and a huge shadow crept out from underneath, forming into the form of the Boogeyman, Pitch Black.

"Oh, I thought I heard the clippety-clop of a unicorn." chuckled Pitch. "What an adorable dream. And look at her. Oh! Precious child. So sweet, so full of hope and wonder. Why, there's only one thing missing. A tough of fear."

He danced his finger in a in walk playfully and poked the unicorn with his index finger, making it turn from bright gold to dark black. Cupcake moaned as her dream turned dark and scary as well as her unicorn as it transformed into a black horse with glowing yellow eyes.

"That never gets old." He cackled with a smirk. "Feed your fear, come on. That's right, yes."

The Nightmare circles around Pitch's head.

"What a pretty little nightmare." He grinned, grabbing the Nightmare. "Now, I want you to go tell the others the wait is over!"

With an echoing neigh, the black Nightmare trotted out of the window and into the darkness outside to deliver his message to all the other Nightmares out there. Pitch stood outside looking up at the Moon.

"Don't look at me like that, old friend." He teased. "You must have known this day would come. My Nightmares are finally ready. Are you're Guardians?"

* * *

The sand tendrils all faded into nothing as Jack watched. Suddenly, something zips by from behind him before he least expected it, catching by surprise.

"Woah!" He cried.

Jack hopped from rooftop to rooftop to followed whatever it was. He perched on a tree branch, but saw nothing. Then the mysterious figure zipped by him again and he pursed it, unaware that something or someone was following him as well. Jack landed in an alleyway in town and kept a battle stance with his staff ready. He looked around and heard a familiar voice.

"'Ello, mate."

"Ah!"

He turned around to see Bunny in the shadows, casually twirling his boomerangs.

"Been a long time. Blizzard of '68, I believe." He replied, stepping out of the shadows and into view. "Easter Sunday, wasn't it?"

"Bunny!" Jack cried with a grin. "You're not still mad about that, are you?"

"Yes." He glared. "But this is about something el-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Jack's body suddenly jerked to a stop as he dropped his staff on the ground.

"What?" exclaimed Bunny confused.

Jack looked down and saw there was a tranquilizer dart on his leg. In an instant, his muscles weakened and he fell motionless to the ground. His vision was blurry so he could see Bunny's surprised face. Just then an entire group of soldiers and agents arrived at the scene. They ran through Bunny, since they didn't believe in him. Bunny couldn't even register what was going on right now. The soldiers started to grab the unconscious body of Jack and tied him up. Bunny disappeared down his rabbit hole in a hurry to warm the Guardians.

* * *

North, Tooth and Sandy stood by the console in front of the globe in the workshop when Bunny appeared before them, panting heavily.

"Ah, Bunny! There you are!" North cheered. "And...where is Jack?"

"Mates, something happened."

"What?" asked Tooth. "What are you talking about?"

"I was this close to getting him here when all of the sudden these...soldiers and men in black arrived and took him away."

"What?" North exclaimed with wide eyes.

"I know this sounds crazy, but it was like they could actually-"

"See him?" finished Tooth with a gasp. Her fairies looked at her with worry.

North looked up at the Moon with knowing face.

"Oh, Manny. What have you done?"

* * *

 **How did you guys like that? So now Jack's been carried off by the military. But how can they see and hear him, while no children can? Find out later on in the story. Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

"What is this?"

There came a loud alarm and the room lit up with the flashing red light as Jack mumbled in his sleep and struggled to get his eyes open. He then sat him and stretched. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked around to see where he was. But it was hard to even register where exactly he was, since he was sitting on a bed in the wall inside of a box-shaped room with metal walls and he looked to see an alarm. Jack looked down to see he was now wearing some sort of prison clothes that were black with orange accents. Embezzled on the left side of his chest said "00006". And he was wearing converses. He looked confused. Then he realized he didn't have his staff with him and he crew concerned. Jack fell out of the bed and onto the floor when the bed he was sitting on slipped back into the wall. And then it felt as if the entire room began to drop rapidly like the world's fastest elevator. The rapid pace caused Jack to land on his back on the ceiling. The room made a few quick turns and halted to a rough stop and Jack fell down the ground. He groaned in pain as the alarm silenced and went back into the ceiling and a blinding light filled the room when the wall in front of him slowly lifted up.

Jack got up to his feet to see a very wide, empty chamber. All of the sudden the wall behind him started to move forward and Jack panicked, running out of the cell before the wall finally stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. There was a table and chairs along with an even large table and chair. The last thing Jack remembered was being confronted by Bunny in Burgess and he mentioned something about why he came to him before he blacked out. A noise startled him and a large tube lowered above the giant table. It spurted a giant blob of apricot-colored goo before dropping a spoon in it before going away. Jack was getting more confused by the minute. But then he heard voices coming from an open cell behind him and he cautiously walked over curiously.

"Uh, hello?" He called.

No answer. Some figures in the cell dispersed from sight as he got close.

"Who's there? Is this some kind of joke? Where am I?" He called out desperately.

But then he sensed something move around the table so Jack rushed over to get a good look at what it was. He's always been the curious sort. There was no one around and Jack began to feel a bit frightened, feeling as if someone or something was watching him. Then he could feel the eyes on him and he slowly turned to get a good look at a man wearing a lab coat, but he had the head of a large cockroach with huge, buggy eyes and antennas.

"Hello, my boy." The thing greeted in an English accent.

Jack screamed and jumped back, hitting his back against the table and he fell onto the floor.

"Woah, easy, young man! Don't excite yourself!" The cockroach cried.

"Who and what are you?" asked Jack in a shaken tone.

"I am Dr. Cockroach Ph.D." It answered. "And you are?"

Petrified, Jack couldn't find his voice.

"Speechless, I see." said Dr. Cockroach. "I'm not surprised."

"Where am I?" asked Jack.

"You're in a top-secret facility, my lad. We're a couple feet underneath the Earth's surface, hiding from the eyes of the outside world. You, young man, have been captured, because you don't seem to fit in human society much like us."

"What do you mean 'us'?" asked Jack.

"Well, it's not just you and me here."

Jack walked around and digested his words as best he could. He was here because he couldn't fit in with the humans? Sure, he couldn't get people or children to see him, but he was the only one bringing winter full of cheer and joy.

"This is a dream." muttered Jack.

"I'm afraid not." Dr. Cockroach implied.

"Why-"

Suddenly he slipped and fell to the floor on his back. He groaned and sat up to see he slipped on a trail of blue slime which led right into a large blue blob. It suddenly opened up one eye and looked at him, making Jack yelp. It then formed a mouth that smiled.

"Hi, I'm the Benzoate Ostylezene Bicarbonate. Or you can call me B.O.B." The jello-like monster said and laughed.

"Sorry about him." Dr. Cockroach sighed. "As you can see, he has no brain."

"Turns out, you don't need one." B.O.B. added. "Totally overrated. As a matter of fact, I don't even..." He suddenly froze in his words and started to gasp for air. "I can't breath! I forgot how to breath! Help me, Dr. Cockroach! Help!"

"Suck in, B.O.B." Dr. Cockroach rolled his eyes and the blob took a deep inhale. Jack stared in confusion.

"Thanks, Doc. You're a lifesaver."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Jack murmured to himself.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?"

A large, green-skinned, ape-like, fish creature leaned down and stared at Jack in the eyes.

"Jesus!" Jack jumped back up to his feet and back away with his hands out protectively.

"We got ourselves a looker." The fish man smirked. "I know what you're thinking, little man. First time in prison, you wanna take out the toughest guy in the yard? Well, I just like to see you try."

The fish man started doing to exaggerated karate moves and stood on his hand upside-down, only to fall to the ground due to his enormous weight.

"Ow!" He cried and stood back up, cracking his back. "Look, guys. He's speechless."

"He?" asked B.O.B.

"Yes, B.O.B.!" Dr. Cockroach said. "We're dealing with that a rare male corporeal spirit."

"No way!" The blob disagreed. "It's a girl. She has no boobies."

His two fellow monsters gave him an annoyed stare.

"We need to have a talk." The fish man told B.O.B.

"Gentlemen, I'm afraid we're not making a very good first impression." said Dr. Cockroach.

"At least I'm the one who's talking!" agreed the fish man, hitting Dr. Cockroach on the shoulder. "First new couple of monsters in years, we couldn't get a wolfman or a mummy? You know, just someone to play cards with!"

They all turned to the shaken Jack.

"May we ask your name, young man?" asked Dr. Cockroach.

"Jack Frost." He answered.

"No, no, no." B.O.B. stepped forward. "We mean your monster name. I mean, what do people scream when they see you coming? You know, like "LOOK OUT! HERE COMES...!"

"Jack...Frost?" Jack repeated.

"Really?" Dr. Cockroach raised an eyebrow and started writing it down on his notepad.

" _Jaaaaaacck Frooooooossst!_ " B.O.B. moaned out to make it sound scary. "Ooh! I just scared myself. That is scary."

"You mean to say you're the mythical Jack Frost? The one who leaves frost on the windows during the winter?" The fish man scoffed. "Yeah, right. And I'm the Easter Bunny."

"You don't make a very good one." Jack said doubtfully, being reminded of Bunny.

Suddenly, a buzzing was heard and the three monsters rushed to their table.

"Yes! Eat time!" The fish man cheered and a tube appeared before him, giving him fresh fishes.

"That's repulsive." Dr. Cockroach cringed in disgust and was given a pile of garbage which to began to eat.

B.O.B. was trying to see some of their food, only to be caught. Then a leg of ham was shot at him out of nowhere and B.O.B. consumed it with his body and it began to dissolve inside of his goo. Jack started to hyperventilate and shake. He backed away from them.

"This has to be a dream. I know it." He whispered softly. "Bunny must've shot that poisonous dart at me and now I'm starting to have these creepy hallucinations when I'm actually lying unconscious in a snow bank..."

He felt his back touch something strange and he froze. He reached behind him and felt a rough surface of some kind, but it wasn't the wall. There came a loud growling from above and Jack looked up to see a giant bug-like monster the size of a mountain. It let out a deafening roar and Jack screamed at the top of his lungs and ran away in fright.

"Don't scare Insectosaurus! He's gonna pee himself! Then we'll all be in trouble." The fish men scolded and rushed to the giant.

Jack ran all the way the other end of the room. Without his staff, he couldn't use his powers and he couldn't fly. He pressed his back against the cold, hard wall, shaking in his boots.

"It's okay, buddy." The fish man consoled Insectosaurus. "Don't worry about it. Who's a handsome bug? You like it when I rub your tummy?"

He jumped up onto the gargantuan beast's furry stomach and gave him a rub and Insectosaurus leaned to the side and patted his foot on the ground like a puppy. Jack was really scared now, he didn't know what to do or think.

"Join the club." moaned a somber voice that sounded feminine.

Jack looked up to see a gigantic Susan Murphy who was wearing the same suit as he was, but on her chest said "00005". She looked depressed as she sat over at the large table looking down at her disgusting meal. This monster didn't seem very much like a monster. Her enormous size made her seem scary, but she didn't look at all intimidating. In fact, she looked quite attractive with her youthful beauty and Jack could feel his face turn a bright red. He felt something he thought he never felt for this giant woman. Jack cautiously walked over to her table.

"So what's your story?" asked Susan as she grabbed him by his shirt and picked him up and placed him on her table.

He started to panic and scooted away from her, but she held her hand behind him, trying to stop him.

"No, no, wait, wait! I'm not gonna hurt you! I'm not gonna hurt you! I'm a monster like them!" Susan assured him to calm him down. She rubbed his head with her large index finger soothingly. "I just want someone normal to talk to."

"And I thought I was the only one." Jack said to himself.

"So are you really the Jack Frost from the stories?" She asked.

"Yes." He nodded.

"Do you really leave frost on the windows?"

"Mostly."

"How old are you?"

"Too many years to count."

"Do you even wanna talk?" asked Susan desperately.

"Everyone I talk to never respond back. They always talk about someone other than me." Jack turned his back to him.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry to hear about that." She apologized. "I'm Susan Murphy."

"Hi." He nodded. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"They think you and I are...monsters." She answered with a whimper.

Just then a door slowly raised and Jack looked to see two red glowing orbs in the shape of eyes. But it was actually a middle-aged military man in his late forties with a jetpack as he hovered high above the ground.

"Monsters, get back in your cells." He ordered.

Dr. Cockroach, B.O.B., the fish man and Susan all returned to their cells, leaving Jack alone. A Boeing CH-47 Chinook carried a set of bright lights in. Once Insectosaurus saw them, his eyes widened and he followed the light into his own cell.

"Can you see me too?" Jack asked the man.

"Of course, I can. Why wouldn't I?" The man asked.

"Nevermind. Uh, who are you?"

"The name is General W.R. Monger. I'm in charge of this facility." He said and turned his jetpack around and flew off, making Jack wish he could fly right now. "Now follow me. It is time for your orientation."

The doors reopened and the General hovered though while Jack was helped down by one of the base helicopters and placed on a platform where he saw the rest of the base for itself. There were some of the workers moving crates and stuff like that and some helicopters hovering above the ground inside of the establishment and where looking directly at Jack, as if watching his every move. Then he felt the platform start to move forward. Monger landed right on the platform with Jack.

"In 1950, it was decided that Jane and Joe Public could not handle the truth about monsters and should focus on more important things like paying taxes." Monger explained while Jack's eyes wandered the around the place. There were actually people seeing him for the first time in his life, but this wasn't at all was he had in mind. "So the government convinced the world that monsters were stuff of myth and legend and then locked them up in this facility."

The platform then clung to a wall over a deep, dark chasm and moved to the right.

"But I'm a spirit that brings winter everywhere I go. I provide fun those who can't see me. I'm not a monster." Jack tried to explain.

"You sure about that?" asked Monger, raising an eyebrow.

"What makes you guys think I'm a monster anyway?"

"Couple of our specialists claim they saw you flying across the street with a boy sledding. While I'm not entirely sure if the public saw you, but we sure as heck did."

"I wasn't trying to endanger his life, okay? You have no idea what's it's like getting someone's attention for 300 years."

Then the platform jerked upwards and brought the two further into the base. A helicopter flew past them carrying a cow as it mooed.

"Speaking of which, where are my clothes and my staff?" asked Jack.

"You're what?"

"My staff. The stick thing?"

"That's classified."

"And how long do you plan to keep me here?" Jack asked.

"Indefinitely." Monger answered.

"Is anyone gonna where I am at all?"

"No! And they never will! This place is an X file, wrapped in a cover-up and deep-fried in a paranoid conspiracy. There will be zero contact with the outside world."

The platform brought them to another dark room that had what looked like a prison watch tower right in the center. Moving to the right, they passed the glass windows to the cells of the monsters Jack met earlier. First, they came across Insectosaurus's cell as the giant bug monster roared and let out some chirps and grunts. Jack looked at at his tremendous size.

"Uh, hi." He stuttered.

Insectosaurus licked the glass, leaving a trail of saliva with his tongue. They passed the fish man's cell next which was, otherwise, filled with water. He was doing some exercises by lifting weights.

"7, 8,..." He counted. "...999, 1,000."

He let go of the barbell, letting it float in the body of water while he did a couple stretches.

"I can't believe I did ten sets."

Passing by B.O.B.'s cell, Jack watched the blue form of slime play with a red ball. He bounced it off the wall and let it bounce back at him. After one round, the ball bounced into his eye, making him spit it out of his mouth as Jack looked on in disgust as B.O.B. bounced his eyeball off the wall like he did with the ball and it bounced back into it's socket, making him spit the ball out. B.O.B. let out a dim-witted chuckle and Jack felt creeped out by the situation. Then they came across Dr. Cockroach who was working on some sort of device.

"Ah, Jack!" He looked up and saw the pair and walked up to the glass. "You wouldn't happen to have any uranium on you, by any chance? I need just a smidgen."

"Rescind Dr. Cockroach's toy box privileges immediately." Monger ordered into a walkie-talkie sternly.

Then they proceeded across Susan's cell. The giant girl herself was sitting on the floor against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest, sobbing silently. Jack began to feel sympathetic for her. Susan lifted her head and noticed the two.

"Hey." She said, voice breaking.

Finally, the platform stopped right afterwards.

"We had the prison psychologist redecorate your cell." Monger said as the door to Jack's cell opened to reveal it was a million degrees below zero inside as Jack was accustomed to. "Make you feel right at home."

"Is this a joke?" Jack shook his head. "This isn't funny."

"This ain't no joke, youngster." Monger told him. "This is real business. Look, I know this all quite a surprise to you and you're not comfortable here, but it's what we got to do to take precautions. I mean, don't think of this as a prison. Just think of it as a theme park in the middle of Canada. Okay, that may not sound too good, but at least give it a chance. It's all you've got."

Jack sighed.

"I tell you what. If you don't like your cell today, I'll have them move you into Ginormica's cell next door. She sounds like she could use some company."

"Okay." said Jack finally and he entered the cold cell as the doors began to close.

"Oh, and one other thing. The government decided to change your name to the Iceman." Monger said before the doors shut completely, leaving Jack alone in his cell.

Iceman? Sounds a bit clique. They couldn't think of anything else?, Jack thought to himself. He sat down on the floor and played down in a fetal position. His mind played out his thoughts. All of his life, he's been going about spreading the cold, breezy, snowy joy all over the world during the winter while not knowing who he really was before or why he was really there in the first place. And now that he thought of it, he actually was alone all those years. Absolutely no one to talk to, no one to share his feelings with, no one to be there for him and he needed someone the most, not one soul whatsoever. And it's been that way ever since and it was possibly stay that way in the future. And now here he was, trapped in a cell inside of a top-secret military base that thought he was a monster, even thought he was trying and failing to make the children believe in him. What could he do now?, he asked himself. How could he bring the winter if he was here? And how would he get the children to believe in him? But it was already pointless enough as it was. Jack knew that. He sighed and laid on the floor while he listened to Susan's sobs from next door.

* * *

Deep in the recesses of the deep space in the universe, an oddly-shaped spacecraft floated in place near an aftermath of an apocalyptic disaster, the remains of a planet that was blown up some time ago. Inside of the mysterious craft, the light to a series of circular computers light up. They had this otherworldly, extraterrestrial design that no human would have made or seen. Then a smooth, female computer voice began to announce.

 _"Begin reanimation sequence."_

Just then, a pod opened up to reveal a squid-like alien with a large head hanging upside down inside from it's tentacles. It opened it's four eyes in annoyance from being disturbed from his slumber.

"Who dares to wake me?" He demanded with a growl.

 _"Quantonium has been located in a distant location in the Omega Quadrant."_

"The Omega Quadrant? Lame." scoffed the alien.

 _"The trajectory of the Quantonium meteor has been traced to Sector 72-4, the planet locally known as Earth."_

"What a miserable-looking mud ball." The squid creature grunted, tapping something into a smaller screen below it with one of it's tentacle feet. "Send a robot probe. Extract the Quantonium with extreme prejudice."

The alien dropped down onto the floor and stood in front of a large statute of itself looking boldly.

"I want it all. Every last drop." He grinned.

 _"Yes, Gallaxhar."_

"Nothing can stand in my way now." Gallaxhar cackled.

* * *

 **New chapter! Now that Jack has met the monsters and Susan, what's gonna happen now? How will they deal with Pitch? Find out later on. Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

_It was a foggy night from where Jack was. he opened his eyes to see he was wearing a waistcoat, dress pants underneath, pants and shoes, something he would never wear. He also wore a_ _cloak. He walked around, disorientated by the fog, wondering where he was. Suddenly, there came a loud, low-tone chimes and, therefore, a light breaks through the surrounding cloud of mist. The light was a clock. A big clock. As the mist cleared enough for Jack to see, it was none other than the giant clock tower, Big Ben. Jack couldn't muster enough strength to speak and he wondered what he was doing in London. As he looked around, it seemed like one of London's darkest hours of the night; fog all around. There was not a soul in sight, no vehicles, not anything in particular._

 _"Hello?" Jack shouted with his voice echoing around the vicinity._

 _No answer. It was merely a ghost town. However, a shadow zipped across a brick wall behind him and the boy quickly turned around to see nothing. But that's when he noticed the shadow again. He let his curious nature guide his sense, as usual, and he cautiously trailed through a dark alleyway where the shadow supposedly went. It was quiet, ever so quiet. The silence almost made Jack go out of his mind. A sudden noise made Jack yelp and jump with fight. The sound was followed by a cat's yowl. Jack breathed a sigh. Just a cat wandering around and got startled when it knocked over a trash can. On Jack continued. All of the sudden, he heard what sounded like voices along with wind. Faint, eerie whispers calling out his name._

 _"Jaaa-aaack. Jaaa-aaack."_

 _Jack followed sounds deeper into the alley and the fog was getting thicker as he went further. The voices called out again, but this time, they sounded a bit closer._

 _"Jaaa-aaack. Jaaa-aaack."_

 _That voice. It almost sounded feminine. Jack could almost make out the voice to belong to a certain someone he just met. The shadow slowly cut across the wall and down the alleyway, barely knowing Jack's presence. A chill ran up Jack's spine as he felt like he was being followed. Being watched. But that can't right. The area was practically devoid of humanity. Jack was sure he was the only one there._

 _"Hello?" He called again._

 _There was not even a cough in response. However, up ahead, he heard hollow footsteps and the shadow walked down path to the right at the end of the alleyway. Jack suddenly ran after the unknown "person" to try and find some answers. He finally made it down, but when he looked down the alley path, there stood the silhouette of a man dressed in all black and he seemed to be looking directly at Jack. The boy raised his hand up, as if to wave to him, but he found the situation to strange. The "man" didn't seem to give any reaction. He just stood there, motionless, stiff as a statue. Suddenly, the voices came again, but in a more deep-pitched and distorted tone. The whispers picked up the pace as the fog swirled around the "man" the wind picked up as well. Jack could see, even through the thick mist, the man began to morph into a shadowy creature. It's eyes glowed a bright red and it opened it's massive maw, revealing rows of sharp teeth. It drooled and growled slowly as it eyed the trembling Jack with a predatory stare._

 _And then before Jack had time to react, the thing leaped out at him with it's open mouth and let out an ear-piercing roar. Jack screamed in horror at the top of his lungs._

* * *

Jack jolted awake and yelled in terror, but found himself, not in his cell, but in a sack as it looks like. He stuttered in confusion.

"He's awake." A female's voice chirped.

"About freakin' time." grumbled a familiar Australian accent.

"Bunny!" The female scolded.

The opening to the sack was untied by small elves who grinned stupidly at Jack as he looked around to see where he was. He was defiantly not in cell anymore, but rather at a workshop. North's workshop, to be precise.

"He's here! Be quiet!" Another male voice silenced the others in a Russian accent.

Jack poked his head out and saw North with a greeting smile. Tooth was quieting her fairies, keeping them from swooning. Bunny and Sandy were also there, of course.

"There he is! Jack Frost!" North chimed with glee and open arms.

"Santa? Wow. You gotta be kidding me." muttered Jack with both amusement and disbelief. He was actually in Santa's workshop, staring at Santa Claus himself. It's been a long while since he meet him in person. Suddenly, the yetis picked him up by his hood and lifted him out of the bag.

"Woah, woah, put me down."

They placed him on his feet in front of the Guardians.

"I hope the yetis treated you well." said North.

"Yeah, I love waking up inside a sac like a drugged captive." Jack acknowledged sarcastically.

"Oh, good. That was my idea." North nodded, barely noting the sarcasm.

Jack let out a puff of air as the big, jolly man continued.

"And what are you wearing?" He asked, looking at his prison clothes up and down. "Where's your blue hoodie and your staff?"

"I don't know." shrugged Jack. "They took them."

"Oh, well. Not important. Anyway, you know Bunny, obviously."

He gestured to the Easter Bunny himself, just standing there against a pillar, grumpily minding his own business and avoiding eye contact with Jack.

"Obviously." muttered Jack with a small smirk.

"And the Tooth Fairy."

Tooth suddenly zipped right into Jack's view, coming eye-to-eye with him with a most eager and giddy look on her face. A few of her fairies flittered around her, sharing an equal face as Tooth.

"Hello, Jack. I've heard a lot about you and your TEETH!" She squealed with delight floating closer to him.

"My what?" Jack asked, taken aback.

"Open up!" She ordered as she grabbed his mouth and forcefully opened up his jaw to sneak a peak at his perfectly whitened molars as his protests came out gargled.

"Are they really as white as they say?" She gasped. "Oh, they really do sparkle like freshly fallen snow."

A couple of her fairies floated around Jack's face to have a gander at his teeth, swooning.

"Girls, pull yourselves together." Tooth told them strictly with an authoritative tone. "Let's not get disgrace the uniform."

She flittered away and Jack looked to see Sandy fast asleep.

"And the Sandman." North said, before tapping the sleeping golden man's shoulder. "Sandy? Sandy? Wake up!"

The Sandman woke right up at the big man's shout.

"Hey! Anyone wanna tell me why I'm here?" asked Jack.

Sandy immediately took over that question and conjured up various glyphs in a rapid pace, but Jack couldn't make sense of any of it.

He chuckled and said, "Uh, that's not really helping. But thanks, little man. I must've done something really bad to get you all together. Wait, am I on the naughty list?"

North cackled, "'On naughty list'? You hold record." He pointed at him with a stern gaze. "But no matter. We overlook. Now we are wiping clean the slate."

"How come?" Jack looked at him.

"Yeah." Bunny laughed obnoxiously. "Good question."

"How come?" North repeated. "I tell you how come. Because now, you are Guardian!"

Elves play a jubilant song with trumpets as the two yetis next to North held up lit poi sticks. More elves marched out in single-file lines like a marching band. Jack was dumbfounded and began to freak out when two fairies carried a snowflake over to him that consisted of blue, red and white colors. They intended to put it around his neck, but Jack stepped back until a yeti grabbed him.

"This is the best part!" cheered the Russian.

The elf marching band continue marching as drums were pounded and the festivities. The yetis came closer to Jack, twirling their poi sticks like batons and made Jack stand right on the center of the Guardian emblem on the floor. Jack looked down to see a grumpy elf pointed at his feet and to a pair of blue shoes about his size, silently demanding him to put them on, but Jack refused. Another yeti handed North a large book and he took it, opening it up. Sandy held up his eggnog as if to give a toast while Bunny rolled his eyes. Jack had finally had enough of this charade.

"ENOUGH!" He screamed as loud as he could and when he did, a sudden blast of paranormal energy flowed from where he stood that blew out the poi sticks and the book smack into North's face. All the music stopped, the room became dead silent and everyone stood in place, eyeing Jack with caution. He has never done that before.

"What makes you think I want to be a Guardian?" He demanded.

But then North laughed boisterously, before he made a serious look on his face.

"Of course you do." Then he shouted, "Music!"

The elves began to play their trumpets again, but Jack interrupted, annoyed, "No music!"

They stopped and one of elves angrily threw his trumpet on the ground and stormed off, shoving another elf in the process.

"Look, this is all very flattering, but you don't want me." Jack told them. "I mean, you're all hard work and deadlines and I'm snowballs and fun times. I'm not a Guardian."

"Yeah!" Bunny snorted out laughter. "That's exactly what I said. I..."

Tooth gave him the hand to get him to stop, before flying over to Jack.

"Jack, I don't think you understand what it is we do." She implored and gestured him towards the Globe. "Each one of those lights is a child."

"A child who believes." North concluded. "And good or bad, naughty or nice, we protect them."

He heard Jack's gurgling and knew Tooth was getting in his mouth again, trying to steal another glance at his teeth.

"Tooth! Fingers out of mouth." He ordered.

"Sorry." She backed off meekly. "They're beautiful."

"Okay, no more wishy-washy." North said, now getting down to business. "Pitch is out there doing who knows what!"

"Pitch?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. "You mean the Boogeyman?"

"Yes." North nodded. "When Pitch threatens us, he threatens them as well."

Jack sighed, "All the more reason to pick someone more qualified."

"Pick!?" repeated North, baffled. "You think we pick?! No. You were chosen. Like we were all chosen. By Man in Moon."

"What?"

"Last night, Jack, he chose you." Tooth added.

"Maybe." Bunny murmured stubbornly.

"Man in the Moon. He...he talks to you?" asked Jack, flabbergasted.

What puzzled Jack is that the Man in the Moon only speaks to the Guardians and perhaps that's the reason he has never spoken a word to him all those years.

"You see? You cannot say no. It is destiny." North explained.

"Why...why wouldn't he tell me that himself?" asked Jack, looking up at the Moon before he ranted, "After 300 years, this is his answer? To spend eternity like you guys, cooped up in some hideout, thinking of new ways to bribe kids? No, that's not for me!" He yelled directly at the Moon, then looked at the Guardians. "No offense."

"How-how-how is that offensive?" Bunny stammered. "You know what I think? I think we dodged a bullet. I mean, what does this clown know about bringing joy to children anyway?"

Bunny scratched his ear with his foot.

"You ever hear of a snow day?" asked Jack, solemnly. "I know it's no hardboiled egg, but kids like what I do?"

"But none of them believe in you, do they?" Bunny asked intimidatingly. "You see, you're invisible, mate. It's like you don't even exist. Why else would they put you in that underground prison in the first place with those freaks? Adults see you as a danger, like everyone should. It's where you belong."

"Bunny!" Tooth gasped and angrily scolded him. "That's enough!"

"No, the kangaroo's right." Jack stepped in.

"The what?" Bunny stuttered in disbelief. "What did you call me? I am not a kangaroo, mate."

"Really? And all this time, I thought you were. If you're not a kangaroo, what are you?" Jack asked him, staring him right in the eye, challengingly.

"I'm a bunny." Bunny glared back at him. "The Easter Bunny. People believe in me."

They glared at each other with looks of hatred. The two seemed to have a rivalry. Sandy exhaled and tapped North on the leg for him to continue.

"Jack, walk with me." North told Jack.

* * *

North and Jack took an elevator that lowered them both down into the heart of the workshop where all of the yetis were hard at work, building the toys for the children of the world while the elves were doing their job; serving the furry brutes cookies and eggnog, just doing God knows what.

"Nothing personal, North. But what you all do, it's not my thing." Jack explained, trying to talk him out of it.

"Man in Moon says it's your thing. You will see." North reminded him.

"Slow down, will you? I've been trying to bust in here for years." Jack said, trying to catch up with him, running into a yeti.

"What do you mean 'bust in'?" asked North curtly, giving him a hard look.

"Don't worry. I never got past the yetis." Jack assured him, seeing a yeti staring him dead in the eye and pounding a fist threateningly. "Oh, hey, Phil."

"Keep up, Jack. Keep up!" North shouted.

As Jack followed him, he looked around at all of the tables where the yetis were constructing toys by looking at an ice sculpture of each toy. There were castle playlets, action figures, fire trucks, guitars, you name it.

"I always thought the elves made the toys." Jack said.

"We just let them believe that." North whispered to him.

A couple of elves were playing with Christmas lights. One of them was tangled in them and the other plugged them in, lighting them up, causing his comrade to become stiff from the electricity running through his body. North came over.

"Very nice! Keep up good work."

They passed by a yeti painting a toy robot blue.

"I don't like it! Paint it red!" ordered North.

The yeti gasped, dumbfounded, then looked at an entire shelf full of countless blue robots. He grunted in frustration and slammed his head on the table, knowing he now has to do them all over again.

"Keep it up, everybody!" He called to his workers.

"I bet you're wondering how we got you here, Jack." North said to the winter spirit.

"Uh, yeah. How did you get into the base and how did you get out?" asked Jack.

"That is on need-to-know basis." replied North.

Then the two men entered his personal workshop room. Jack eyed the room up and down with amazement. North grabbed some fruitcake from an elf.

"Fruitcake?" He offered.

"Uh, no." Jack deadpanned.

North tossed the confectionary away and got serious automatically.

"Now we get down to tacks of brass." He said, crackling his knuckles.

"Tacks of-" Jack tried to say when the door slammed shut and locked up. North approached him intimidatingly, making Jack back up against the door.

"Who are you, Jack Frost?" He demanded strongly. "What is your center?"

"My center?"

"If Man in Moon chose you to be a Guardian, you must have something very special inside. Hmm..." North picked up a Russian nesting doll that resembled himself and handed it to Jack. "Here, this is how you see me, no? Very big, intimating. But if you get to know me a little...go on."

Jack takes off the first layer of the doll to see a happy-looking North on it. "You are downright jolly?"

"Ha! Not just jolly!" North chortled.

Jack removed more layers of the doll, each one representing the words that describe North.

"I am also mysterious and fearless and caring and at my center..."

When Jack got to the final part of the doll, he tried to guess. But he felt ridiculous for doing this and he rubbed his forehead, stressing himself as he tried to come up with an answer.

"There's...a tiny wooden baby." He groaned.

"Look closer." North told him. "What do you see?"

"You have big eyes." Jack said, looking at the tiny doll.

"Yes!" North expressed. "Big eyes! Very big, because they are full of wonder. That is my center. It is what I was born with. Eyes that have always seen the wonder in everything. Eyes that see lights in the trees and magic in the air. This wonder is what I put into the world! And what I protect in children. It is what make me a Guardian. It is my center. What is yours?"

"I don't know." Jack answered.

"If it is with those creatures at the base, would you go?" asked North.

"I-I don't really know what to think anymore."

"Jack. I know you've been lonesome for the past years and I know you don't feel like you're up for challenge. But if you want to go back, I won't argue with that. You don't need to be a Guardian yet, but if we ever need you, we will find you."

"Okay." Jack sighed.

"Here." North handed him a snow globe. Jack took it from him. "It's what I used to get us into the base. All you have to do is see where you want it to take you."

Jack thought heavy about this. He wanted children to see him, but after years of doing so, he always got ignored. Then he thought about Susan back at the base. The poor girl was stuck in that facility, missing her friends and family. He choose to follow his heart and be with her. Using the globe, he vanished from the workshop into the portal.

* * *

Somewhere out in a field in California, a young teenage couple drove out into the area for a romantic get-together. The boyfriend, Cuthbert, parked next to a line of trees and shut off the headlights. The music on the stereo was high and Cuthbert bobbed his head to the music while his girlfriend, Katie, seductively slid closer to him to put her arms around him, but as her face got closer to his, he shoved her back in annoyance.

"Don't rush me, Katie!" He snapped. "I'm just not ready!"

"Oh, come on, Cuthbert." Katie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "It's just like dancing. I'll lead."

With a mischievous grin, she scooted closer to him again, closing the space between them, against Cuthbert's protests. All of the sudden, the radio started acting weird, cutting off the music and making strange sounds. The roof of the car when opened up by itself.

"Katie, I got a gymnastics meet tomorrow." Cuthbert chuckled nervously and shoved her off once again. "Uh, did you open the top?"

There was a blinding ball of light in the distance behind them and it was coming in their direction fast.

"Oh, thank goodness. It's the police." He said, shielding his eyes. "We weren't doing anything, officer!"

"Yeah, nothing at all." Katie agreed sarcastically and watched as well.

But it wasn't the police at all. That ball of light emitted a whirring sound and it zipped past them overhead and landed ahead of them with a deafening explosion. Cuthbert yelped and hid behind the wheel.

"Why did I let you talk me into this?" He cowered. "We should get out of here."

"But maybe we should check it out." Katie said, being the adventurous one, and hopped out of the car over to the crash site.

"Katie, are you nuts?!" Her boyfriend screamed. "Wait!"

He chased after her to stop her from doing something she will probably regret. They passed apple trees and Cuthbert tripped over a piece of wood from the fence and fell to the ground in pain.

"Oh! My ankle!" He winced and looked to see he had twisted his ankle. "I think it's broken. Katie?"

Katie sighed in aggravation at her boyfriend incompetence and the thought of having to carry him with her.

"This is the worst date ever." She grumbled to herself.

Against her judgement, she carried Cuthbert bridal style over to the crash site, since he couldn't walk on a broken ankle. There was smoke everywhere and sounds of some sort of technology.

"Katie, I'm frightened." Cuthbert whimpered.

There were small red light dots from what they could sit when suddenly, a giant mechanical eye opened up and stared back at them. They both screamed in utter terror, when they witnessed an alien robot.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, after word of the sighting of the unidentified extraterrestrial object got out, the U.S. military soon arrived to deal with this matter. They surrounded the gargantuan thing with tanks and an entire army of soldiers, ready to shoot on command. The reporters stood outside of the perimeter, capturing the whole thing on live TV.

"It was first spotted at midnight last night by couple in romantic embrace. No one knows what is is or where it came from." The news reporter announced into the camera. "All branches of the military were immediately mobilized."

Then the reporter heard someone talking into his earpiece. "What is that, Henshaw? Okay. I've just received word that the President of the United States has arrived and will attempt to make first contact."

A chopper landed in the perimeter and President Hathaway stepped out surrounded by bodyguards and gazed upon the massive, building-sized robot with a look of determination.

"I will have to approach it alone. This is all about peaceful communication." reminded the President.

"Yes, sir, Mr. President." One of the bodyguards nodded.

An enormous flight of stairs was placed in front of the robot which lead right up to it's "face". The robot's eye stared down at the humans below it. The President exhaled and began to walk up the stairs while men in hazmats suits took their leave to let their President do his work. Meanwhile, the military all kept their eyes on the robot. They aimed their guns at it to make sure it didn't try to hurt the President. Choppers kept their turrets locked onto the otherworldly being in case it tried anything violent. The President was feeling restless walking up the seemingly endless flight, but luckily a man met him halfway and handed him a cup of water which he took and drank and poured on himself to wash the sweat away. The robot kept it's eye locked on him as he neared him. Once the President was finally on top of the structure, he scuttled over to a Yamaha keyboard on a stand. The eye focused only on him, as if wondering what he wanted and what he was going to do. He cracked his knuckles and inhaled softly. He tapped some of the keys, getting a few feeble and hesitant notes out. The President gave the probe a Vulcan sign and gulped, hoping that he knew what he was doing.

So he decided to spice things up a bit. Turning the volume, setting the pitch on high and setting the music to _Funk Synth_ , his fingers practically danced on the keys as they played a funky tune and the President began to play Axel F by Crazy Frog. He started to move his hips and body along with the beat as well. He pressed the "Funk" button, ready to turn the place upside down! He began to dance like a rock star on the stage, performing for his fans. The soldiers all looked on at their President's display in confusion while some of the bodyguards bobbed their heads to the jam. Finally the song was over and the music came to a stop once the President held his hands up in the air, panting and sweating. After a brief pause, the probe shut it's eyes, causing everyone to gasp. A small hatch opened in front of the President and a robotic hand extend outwards to him. He smiled, believing that the alien has seen him as a peaceful race and that they've come together as equal, and reached his own hand out as if to give a handshake. The hand stopped above a couple inches from his hand. All of the soldiers watch in complete awe at the scene. The President reaches his finger out to touch it, but what the hand did next was defiantly not peaceful.

It smacked down onto the keyboard, crushing it and making the President jump back in terror. Everyone watched as the hand extracted back inside the hatch and giant arms came out from the robot's sides with large claws for hands. It placed it's claws into the ground and lifted itself from the earth. The President saw one of it's feet move towards him and he bolted down the steps as fast as he could as the structure went to pieces to avoid being steps on. He finally jumped into his bodyguards' arms, out of the way of the robot's foot.

"Commander, do something violent!" He ordered the commander.

"You heard the President! Light 'em up!" The commander ordered.

The soldiers all fired upon the robot with all the lead and firepower that had. However, the robot had some sort of protective shield on it's body, so no matter what they fired at it, it had no effect whatsoever.

"We're getting pummeled here! Call in air support! _Call in air support!_ " A cadet ordered frightfully into his walkie-talkie summoning the air squadron.

Choppers, F-22 Raptors and tanks all fired upon the walking robot with missiles and practically everything they got. They still didn't didn't do anything to destroy it as it advanced closer and closer. After several failed attempted to destroy it or at least slow it down, the military had no choice, but to retreat. The President released himself from hid bodyguards' hold and glared towards the moving probe, upset that it didn't come in peace.

"So that's how you wanna play it?" The President asked, then pulled out a gun. "Eat lead, alien robot!"

He fired at it three times, only to see it actually munch on the bullets.

"Evidently, they eat lead." He said to himself in puzzlement.

"Get him on the chopper."

The bodyguards all picked the President after he throw the gun down in frustration and he raised his arms in victory.

"I'm brave! I am a brave president!" He cheered before the door to the chopper close and the craft lifted off of the ground and away from the probe. The soldier repeated away from the robot as it stomped it's way forward, stepping on tanks in the process.

* * *

A fellow agent rushed down the corridor inside of a secret governmental location, carrying a stack of files on his arms. He was clumsily dropping some sheets as he dashed over to a door where he had his handprints scanned as well as his foot, tongue, elbows and finally, his bare buttocks. The scanning system recognized him and slid open, to which he rushed inside, trying to keep his pants up. He entered a secret room to a large table surrounded by large red screens of the world. The President was at the meeting with other dignitaries and agents, arguing over what action they should take.

"Sir! We need to declare a-!"

"We need to overthrow that robot!"

"And install out own government!"

"Let's sacrifice the elderly to it!"

"We should invade it!"

"The Earth had only two weeks left."

"If that thing walks into a populated area, there will be a major catastrophe!"

"We need our top scientific minds on this. Get India on the phone!"

"Can we transport the United States to a safer planet?"

"Let's give this alien a green card and make him proud to be an American."

"It's dire times like this when I stop to ask myself, "What would Oprah do?"

"Oh! Hang it all!" The President whined with despair as he got up from his seat. "What's the point? It's a disaster!"

He approached a big red button and was about to press it when the entire board shouted in protest, making him freeze.

"Stop! Don't do it!" They screamed.

"That button launches all our nuclear missiles!" An agent warned him.

"Then which button gives me a latte?" demanded the President impatiently.

"Uh, that would be the other one, sir." Another agent answered nervously.

The President noticed another big red button on the right, similar to the one he was about to push. He pushed his glasses up and pressed the coffee button.

"What idiot designed this thing?" asked the President.

"You did, sir."

"Fair enough." The President remarked cooly. "Wilson, fire somebody!"

"Yes, sir, Mr. President." Wilson complied.

The President grabbed his coffee and turned to the board, "Listen up! I'm not going to go down in history as the president who was in office when the world came to an end. So somebody think of something and think of it fast!"

He took a sip from his mug and hummed in approval.

"That is a good cup of joe."

"Mr. President!"

Everyone looked and saw Monger on the upper level of the meeting room after entering through the door and was zipping his pants up.

"Not only do I have an idea, but I have a plan." He declared, then jumped from the railing and floated down to the lower level on a parachute. Some staff members carried the parachute away. "Now, conventional weapons have no effect on this thing and we know nukes ain't an option."

"Sure they are. I just..." The President replied when he placed his hand on the left button again when everyone shot up from their seats again and screamed for him not to. Monger grabbed his shoulder and lead him away from the button of doom.

"I'm not gonna kid you, Mr. President." He said. "These are dark times. The odds are against us. We need a Hail Mary pass. We need raw power! We need...monsters."

The general brought his face inches to the President's and muttered the last word mysteriously. He lets go of him and the President gave this some thought.

"Monsters! Of course! It's so simple!" He chirped, but then got confused. "I...I'm not following you."

"Over the last 50 years, I have captured monsters on the rampage and locked them up in a secret prison facility. So secret that the mere mention of it's name is a federal offense."

"Is he talking about Area Fifty..." One of the members whispered to his co-workers before he was struck by a tranquilizer dart and knocked unconscious.

"Mr. President, say hello to Insectosaurus." Monger announced as the screen in front of them showed a black-and-white image of Insectosaurus rampaging through a Japanese city. A woman dropped a tray of tea cups and screamed in terror.

"Miss Ronson, please." Monger told her, annoyed.

The screen then played archive footage of when Insectosaurus was a small grub laying on a leaf on an island before he gained an enormous size and attacked a city.

"Nuclear radiation turned him from a small grub into a 350-foot-tall monster that attacked Tokyo."

Then an image of the fish man growling angrily at the camera.

"Here we have the Missing Link." began Monger.

Miss Ronson screamed again, making everyone wince at her voice volume.

"A 20,000-year old frozen fish man who was thawed out by scientists. He escaped and went on a rampage in his old watering hole."

The footage shows a crane in an arctic landscape lifting up a large ice block containing the Missing Link. Scene cuts to inside of a cabin where the cube was left with a heater to melt it. Not much is left of the ice, but the Missing Link is nowhere in sight, safe for his wet footprints leading to an open window. The next scene show him attacking beachgoers at a beach.

"This handsome fella is Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. The most brilliant man in the world. He invented a scientific machine that would render humans a cockroach's ability to survive. Unfortunately, there was a side effect."

Monger showed the next footage of Dr. Cockroach in his late human form, filming himself to demonstrate an invention. Showing the viewers a sheet that explained his test, he pointed the camera over to a booth-like machine and entered it. He pressed a button and the door slammed shut. There came a boom inside and the door swung back open, letting out a cloud of steam. Dr. Cockroach stepped out of the machine, but he wasn't the same as he was before. He had the gigantic head of a cockroach. Miss Ronson screamed again.

The war veteran cleared his throat in vexation before continuing.

"Now, we call this thing B.O.B." He stared as the next image showed B.O.B. standing outside a factory and eating a police car. Miss Ronson screamed again, making Monger grumble to himself, growing more annoyed with the screaming. The footage showed two scientists injecting a tomato with a formula, which caused the vegetable to expand then explode in a mess of blue-colored, gooey substance. The scene cuts to everyone fleeing from the factory with the giant blue mass of slime flowing through the doors.

"A genetically-altered tomato was combine with a chemical component made from ranch-flavored dessert topping at a snack food plant. The resulting goop gained consciousness and became an indestructible, gelatinous mass."

"We've named this lovely gal, Ginormica." He moved on to the next image which show Susan being captured by the military after growing at her wedding.

Miss Ronson screamed again. Monger was fed up and finally had enough.

"WILL SOMEONE GET HER OUTTA HERE?!" He screamed in anger. They finally removed her from the room.

"Thank you." He exhaled in relief, rubbing his eyes from stress before he resumed. "Her entire body radiates with pure energy, giving her enormous strength and size."

Some of the guys in the room wolf-whistled and cat-called while observing the image of Susan.

"And finally, our latest addition, the Pennsylvanian Iceman." The screen showed the finally image, which depicted Jack flying across the streets of Burgess. There came yet another ear-piercing scream...which came from the President?

He looked around awkwardly at the people giving him weird looks. He cleared his throat and regained his posture.

"General, continue." He said, allowing the general to proceed.

Monger explained, "Now, not much is known about this peculiar young man, but recent studies show that he could be a supernatural entity with powers over ice and snow, leaving trails of frost in his wake. He also claims to be the mythical personification of ice known as Jack Frost."

Some of the board members laughed with amusement.

"Iceman, really?" An agent asked chuckled. "Isn't that a little cliché?"

"You expect us to believe that this kid is actually Jack Frost from the stories?" A female staff member scoffed.

"If this boy says he is, I'll buy it." confirmed Monger. "Sir, these monsters are our best and only chance to defeat that robot."

"Don't we already have an alien problem, General?" A member asked obnoxiously. "I don't think we need a monster problem, too."

Monger got in his face, glaring.

"You got a better idea, nerd?" He hissed and gave him a major wedge, making the others cringe. The President shot up from his seat in fear, not wanting a wedgie himself.

"Okay, stay where you are." He told the General as he walked to him. "General, I propose we go forward with you monsters-versus-aliens idea...thingy."


	8. Chapter 8

"Go fish." said Link as B.O.B. grabbed a card.

Jack breathed out a sigh in boredom as he sat at the table with the Missing Link and B.O.B. while the two were playing a typical game of Go Fish and listening to a soft tune on a very small radio with large antennas. All Jack could do, for the time being, was sit there and watch them play. Link was staring the blue blob down with his best challenging stare while holding his deck of cards. Meanwhile, Insectosaurus was leaning his head down and peering over B.O.B.'s shoulder with his giant, buggy eye and sneaking a glance at his cards as Link smirked at his colossal friend. Jack shook his head with he saw this and knew right away that Link was planning on cheating.

"Do you..." The Missing Link began to ask before Insectosaurus stomped his foot three times, shaking the ground.

 _STOMP_

"...have...

 _STOMP_

"...any..."

 _STOMP_

"...threes?" Link smirked, but casually held it behind an innocent grin, which, of course, the brainless blob failed to notice.

"Yes! I do!" B.O.B. exclaimed in surprise when he saw that he did and then he smacked down his cards, unaware that his opponent was cheating. "How are you doing this?! You're the luckiest guy I know!"

"Luck ain't got nothing to do with it." Link boasted, crackling his knuckles and chuckling smugly and nudged Jack on his shoulder. "You see what I mean?"

"Oh, yes. I do." responded Jack in a low, disillusioned tone.

"You sure you aren't up for another round?" Link asked him.

"I'm just not interested in card games." Jack answered. "They're too boring."

"Too boring?" repeated Link. "Did you not see how I did against him?"

He pointed a thumb towards B.O.B.

"Yeah!" agreed B.O.B. "Even I couldn't figure out what I had!"

"That's...real nice." Jack gently said.

Suddenly, Dr. Cockroach appeared at the table, tore off the antennas of the radio and scattered away to add them to a contraption he just built out of random junk.

"What the? Hey!" Link groused.

"They called me crazy!" The scientist muttered with that maniacal grin on his face while he pressed some buttons on the machine. "But I'll show them. I'll show them all! _Mwahahahahahaha!_ "

Jack cringed when Dr. Cockroach did his cliché evil mad scientist laughter. He then noticed the machine was connected to Susan through wires while she sat in her chair and was also uncomfortable with Dr. Cockroach's evil laugh.

"Uh...doctor? I'd prefer you didn't use your mad scientist laugh while I'm hooked up to this machine." Susan told him nervously.

That's when Insectosaurus let out a sudden roar of confirmation, which only Link understood.

"You're right, Insecto." He replied before he joined Dr. Cockroach. "You've let that quack experiment on you for over a month."

"I'm not a quack! I'm a mad scientist! There's a difference!" argued Dr. Cockroach, still trying to work the machine of his.

"What does that mean?" asked Jack.

"Doc, here, created a teleporter of some kind that turned him into that after a cockroach snuck inside with him." Link explained to him.

"That is not what happened! You weren't there!" Dr. Cockroach remarked angrily.

"That sounds a lot like that movie, The Fly." Jack said.

"Uhhhh..." The Missing Link stammered his words, trying to find a good excuse.

"Guys." Susan interrupted. "What choice do I have? If he can make me normal, or even 6 ft. 8, I can get out of here. Get back to the life I'm supposed to have. I should be in-"

"Let me guess. Fresno?" Link sighed and answered for her, having heard this talk before already.

"Well, Fresno is just a stepping stone. First Milwaukee, then New York and then, someday, hopefully..."

"Yeah, we know. Paris." groaned Link in aggravation.

The giantess stared back at him with a frown, but decided to ignore his attitude and turn her attention over to Jack.

"So what about you, Jack?" She asked. "I'm sure Dr. Cockroach can make something to turn you normal. Can you do that, Doctor?"

"I'm afraid that's an impossibility. This boy is merely a spirit between the lines of life and death. Not the standards I've seen before." explained Dr. Cockroach.

"I was revived through magic, not science. And besides, why would I go back to being normal, anyway. I've been around for a long time. About 300 years. And I loved being on my own. No rules, no responsibility, no raw deal, it's as good as it sounds. But, in hindsight, in the end, I can never feel like there's anyone by my side. To tell me the difference between right and wrong. To hold me close and understand me. Throwing snow days for the kids, it's never enough to soothe my loneliness. No matter how hard I try, not one child can see me, can touch me, can hear me."

Susan felt sympathy for the young lad as he explained everything.

"You've been alone for that long?" She asked, to which he nodded in response.

"Haven't you ever, like, you know, spoken to any other...spirits like you?"

"Oh, yeah, never that of that one." He chuckled sarcastically, then sighed. "No, they-they have better things to do than to pay any attention to me."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. And what did you say you're name was? You're full name?

"My name is Jack Frost." He finally answered after giving it some thought.

"Jack Frost." She muttered while pondering his words. "Like the Jack Frost? The ice spirit who brings winter and leaves ice patterns on windows?"

"Yeah, that one."

"The one who nips at your nose?" asked Susan.

"Yes." Jack answered in a more annoyed tone.

"Okay, sorry. Didn't mean to bother you." She chuckled sheepishly before saying, "Throw the switch, doctor. But don't do the laugh."

"Now you're gonna feel a slight pinch in the brain." Dr. Cockroach explained with a sinister smile and was about to an evil laugh, but stopped, "Sorry."

Everyone watched as he activated the machine, making it whir and sparkle to life. The gadget sent electronic volts all over Susan's body through the wires, which electrocuted her extremely. A few more extremely powerful currents knocked Susan unconscious and the machine stopped working. They all saw her body, still 50 ft big, which indicated Dr. Cockroach's mediocre failure.

"Wow." Jack responded.

"Well, this is unpredictable." said Dr. Cockroach, feeling useless.

The four all gathered around Susan's face and Jack pocked her on the forehead to wake her up, causing the giantess to stir groggily before becoming conscious. Her vision was blurry at first as she opened her eyes, which cleared up in seconds, and she saw Dr. Cockroach, B.O.B., Link and Jack all looking down at her in confusion.

"Susan! Yoo-hoo!" cried Dr. Cockroach, trying to get her attention.

"Am I small again?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not, my dear." He said. "In fact, you actually have grown a couple of feet."

Jack shook his head and murmured, "So much for that."

Everyone stood in front of her as she sat up, revealing that her hair became a mess from the electric bolts. She returned to her seat with a saddened look, knowing she'll probably never see Derek or anyone ever again, due to her horrendous size.

"It's okay, doc." She said softly. "We'll try again tomorrow."

"I'm sure it'll all be resolved sooner or later, Susan." Jack said, patting her leg.

This brought a warm smile to her face, as well as a blush on her cheeks. Jack blushed as well as he smiled back at her. But then Link interrupted with a rant.

"You really don't get it, do you?" He raved. "No monster has ever gotten out of here!"

"That's not true!" B.O.B. rebutted. "The Invisible Man did!"

"Invisible Man?" asked Jack confused.

"No, he didn't." Link confessed with a cringed look. "We just said that so you wouldn't be upset."

"He died of a heart attack 25 years ago." Dr. Cockroach added, revealing to cold truth.

"NOOOO!" The blob was grief-stricken badly by the news.

"Yeah. In that very chair." nodded Link in agreement and gestured towards a lonely chair sitting just a few feet from them all by itself. "He's still there."

But B.O.B. was already saddened by the shocking news that his lip quivered and tears threatened to leak from his eye as he was ready to sob. Everything about this situation made Jack feel uneasy; unnerved about the fact that he was probably never gonna see the children again and perhaps, to top it all off, this is probably the best place for him. Away from the outside world. And that's when Link took the opportunity to explain his point.

"You see what I'm saying?" He asked everyone, including Susan and Jack. "Nobody's leaving! Nobody's ever getting out!"

However, he was proven wrong when a door from the wall far behind them opened up and Monger drove in with his vehicle shouting, "Good news, monsters! You're getting out!"

"Until today." Link finished lamely, somewhat relieved and dumbfounded by this.

* * *

Jack and Susan were both excited to finally be free from their solitary confinement in the monster prison. There was so much to do, so much to see, Susan just wanted to be with her family again and get back to marrying Derek so they can get their honeymoon plans back on track. Jack was given back his staff and this original clothes by the agents of the base, but they explained why they were giving it back now after's he been in the base for a minimum period of time. All of the monsters were escorted on a platform over to a large black government airplane while Susan was going on about her plans, while Jack, on the other hand, was feeling jealous that she had a fiancée. Although, now that he thought of it, he wasn't sure why he was feeling this way about her. This feeling that he hasn't felt under his cold, frozen shell.

"So let me get this straight, Monger." Link began. "You want us to fight an alien robot?"

"And, in exchange, the President of the United States authorized me to grant you your freedom." elaborated Monger.

"I've never even seen an alien before." Jack replied. "How can they exist?"

"If their existence mean going back to Cocoa Beach for me, that's the only proof I need." Link said with a cocky grin.

Susan exhaled happily, "I can't believe it! Soon, I'll be back in Derek's arms. Or he'll be in mine."

"I feel super happy for you." Jack told her.

"Thanks! I hope you do well out there yourself. And probably meet someone out there for you." stated Susan.

All he could give her was a fake smile, before he sighed heavily.

"I can't wait for spring break back at Cocoa Beach, just freaking everybody out." Link said as the platform came to a complete stop. Everyone hopped off and headed inside the plane, waiting for them.

"And I'll go back to my lab and finally finish my experiments." B.O.B. said dumbly.

"No, that's me, B.O.B." corrected Dr. Cockroach.

B.O.B. stuttered, until he came up with a better one, "Then I'll be a giant lady."

"That's Susan, B.O.B." Link corrected him.

"Fine! Then I'll finally go back to Modesto and be with Derek."

"Still Susan, B.O.B." Jack told him as the doors began to close after Susan squeezed her way in.

"Then I'll go back to spread joy and snowflakes to the children of the world."

"That's me." Jack groaned.

"Well, then I think I, at least, deserve a chance to be with Derek!" B.O.B. barked in a pouty manner.

Then the plane began it's ascent in 90-degree angle into the air towards the opening way above while below them, Insectosaurus was currently being mesmerized by light while they ascended him upwards as well, to distract him to trying to resist.

* * *

North and the rest of the Guardians sat in the workshop while discussing over the matter what to do about their predicament now that Jack was gone back with the monsters in time when they're supposed to be with them and helping them out with protecting the children from Pitch. The Russian himself was in a dilemma, but he wasn't one to back down easily.

"What are you suggesting we do now, mate?" demanded Bunny, glad that Jack is no longer with them. "How can we deal with Pitch this time?"

"He's getting stronger as fear in the children grows. We need Jack." Tooth conceded.

Bunny, however, scoffed at the idea.

"Frostbite? We don't need him. We're already strong enough ourselves without him. And besides, that little gumby bristles my fur."

Tooth was about to argue back at him and scold him for his choice of words when North intervened.

"Oh, Bunny. Pull yourself together. While I agree, we are strong, but with Jack, we could be even more. We just need to give Jack some time."

"Time?" mimicked Tooth, her feathers ruffling in response to her emotions. "Pitch is one step away from terrorizing the children's dreams and running amok. And not only that, but a giant robot just crash landed on Earth and is now running loose! How much time do we have before terror strikes?!"

"Tooth, calm down." North soothed. "Children is our priority. But an alien invasion is theirs."

"Aliens, huh?" Bunny remarked sharply. "First nightmares from the Boogeyman and now, all of the sudden, a threat from outer space? Alright, tell me. How can this possibly get any worse?"

That's when Sandy perked up and made a tiny Earth explode with his sand, which symbolized the destruction of the planet.

"Oh, that's no good." Tooth whimpered.

"Oh, please. Like aliens are smart enough to mess with us." grumbled Bunny with an eye roll.

"Look, Pitch isn't close enough to his own agenda. I say we each be on the look out for nightmares in our respective areas and if we need Jack desperately as Manny predicts, we will find him." explained North with a pinch of wisdom in his voice.

"Good enough." said Tooth. "I'll keep an eye out. Me and my fairies."

Without another word, the Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies zipped away out of sight along with her tiny fairies back to her palace. Bunny rubbed his head in aggravation.

"Alright. I'm not gonna enjoy bringing Jack in this, but whatever it takes to help the children is fine enough." He said as he tapped his foot, making a hole appear in the floor which he disappeared down into. The hole vanished without a trace, but leaving a small flower in it's place.

Sandy summons more dreamsand to create a dream-cloud below his feet that floated him up into the air and out of the workshop to do his part and bringing more good dreams to the kids and keeping his dark rival from poisoning them with his lust for fear. North stood there in his workshop, deep in thought, while the yetis and elves reported to their duties. The bearded man looked outside the window as he thought of what should become of Jack if he agreed to help out the Guardians.

* * *

 **A/N: And there's the new chapter. So Jack and the monsters are being led out to fight the robot in San Francisco while the Guardians are trying their best to keep Pitch at bay long enough before he begins his assault head on. It won't be long not before the alien invasion from Gallaxhar and the eternal darkness and shroud of fear from Pitch simultaneously begin. See you guys in the next chapter. Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

As estimated, the robot was marching it's way towards San Francisco, which was 92.1 miles way from Susan's hometown of Modesto, California. The entire city was currently being evacuated as the military was guiding the citizens out of the way of the giant robot that was heading right towards the vicinity. As the traffic jam crowded the Golden Gate Bridge, a soldier bellowed through his megaphone to have them depart calmly as possible.

 _"Everybody move in an orderly fashion! This is an emergency! We are evacuating the city! Exact change is appreciated, but not necessary!"_

Right at that moment, the aircraft flew passed him overhead and through the skyscrapers and buildings. Making a perfect landing on an interstate road near the ocean outside of the city, the doors opened, letting the monsters out.

"Let's move out!" Monger drove his jeep out, leading them outside.

As everyone took their step outside of the aircraft and into the open, cool air, Susan smiled brightly in realization. She realized that she wasn't too far away from home. Meanwhile, Jack was glad to be out of the prison, but got a good look at his surroundings. He remembered bringing winter to this place before. And that one time where he skated down the steep road downhill, leaving a trail of ice. Good times, he thought.

"This is San Francisco! This isn't far from my home!" cheered Susan with excitement in her heart at being out of that prison at last.

"Where is your home?" asked Jack.

"It's a town called Modesto. I live in a suburban neighborhood with my parents." Susan told him.

Then, for no reason at all, Jack began to remember something about Modesto. He could remember bringing snow days in that quaint place. He could remember a little girl about 9 years old dancing in the snow. He also remembered how amused he was seeing the child dance like a ballerina or a figure ice skater of sorts before making a snow angel. All of the memories while he looked at the giantess above him.

"Aah, feel the wind in your antennae." Dr. Cockroach inhaled deeply. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"I haven't been outside in 50 years. It's amazing out here!" B.O.B. claimed while he oozed his way onto the pavement.

"It's gotten hotter than I remember." said Link while checking the atmosphere. "Has the Earth gotten warmer? That'd be great to know. That would be a very convenient truth."

"Don't get too comfortable, fish-man." Jack jabbed jokingly.

The recurring silence was destroyed by the oncoming, deep thumps of giant footsteps. Everyone looked and there it was, appearing from out of the fog. The first thing they saw was it's giant eye and as the rest of the fog cleared, the giant extraterrestrial mecha marched slowly forward. Jack had never seen anything this big before in his life and he couldn't be anymore frightened.

"Whoooo-eeee! Now that's a robot!" Monger whooped with glee.

Susan, however, had different sentiments. She crouched down next to the jeep as she gazed up at the thing with widened eyes of fear. How she wasn't prepared for this! How she wasn't prepared at all! There's no possible way a girl her size could beat a robot that humungous. This wasn't a winning chance for her. They were going to make her and Jack beat that behemoth, possibly to the death. How was she gonna see her family and Derek now?

"It's huge!" She gasped.

"You want us to fight that?!" Jack demanded to Monger.

"If you want to free, affirmative. Now don't damage it too much, monsters!" The general put his jeep in reverse back into the aircraft as the door began to close. "I might want to bring it back to the farm!"

But Susan began to protest as the doors close on her and the aircraft took off, leaving the monsters in the streets with the robot.

"No, no, no, wait! You didn't say anything about it being huge!" She cried in despair and panic. "Wait! No! Don't leave!"

"I can't believe this." Jack grumbled. "I get caught by a bunch of maniacs, placed in an empty cell, forced to eat crap and now I'm being forced to kill that!" He ended his sentence, jabbing his staff towards the robot.

"You think you're the only one with problems right now?" asked Susan, equally dumfounded and terrified. "I'm probably never gonna see my parents again if that thing kills ME!"

"Well, how strong are you, exactly?"

"I'm pretty strong in this size, but I don't know how strong enough to beat down a giant robot from space!" Susan panicked in shrill voice.

Suddenly, the robot shot a beam of blue light towards Jack and the rest as if it was scanning them or trying to get a closer look at them before it turned it's beam off.

"I think he sees us." B.O.B. whispered to his teammates before yelling out towards the robot, "Hello! Hi, how are you doing?! Welcome! We are here to destroy you!"

The pile of blue goo's variation of a so-called greeting from Earth made Jack face-palm in annoyance.

"Jack, I can't fight that thing!" Susan said in an even more panicky tone before she started to hyperventilate. "I can't even...* _gasp, gasp_ *...I've never...* _gasp, gasp_ *...I'm hyperventilating!...* _gasp, gasp_ *...DOES ANYBODY HAVE A GIANT PAPER BAG?!"

"Susan, please calm yourself!" Jack told her bluntly, making her look at him. "We're not gonna make it through this if you keeping panicking. Just keep calm, okay. You're not gonna die."

She nodded frantically, trying her best to believe what he was saying to her to soothe her nerves.

"Yeah, relax." Link agreed with a sly and cocky voice. "Old Link's got this under control."

"Hide in the city, Susan!" Dr. Cockroach instructed. "You'll be safe there!"

She got to her feet and looked at Jack with a worried look as if begging for him not to let her go.

"Go! You'll be okay! I'll catch up with you!" He ordered.

"And stay away from the Tenderloin! It's a bit dicey!" reminded Dr. Cockroach.

That was all Susan needed and then she full-on ran down the street towards the city to stay safe from the battle, while silently hoping that Jack would be there with her and helping her out. Jack was left with the others to take care of the robotic threat.

"Finally some action!" Link said cheekily. "I'm gonna turn that oversized tin can into a really dented oversized tin can."

The Missing Link stood on all fours and made himself look intimating as he prepared to fight. But then the robot brought out it's arms, branching it's mechanical claws, leaving everyone shocked.

"Yeah, good luck with that." muttered Jack.

"Okay! Does anybody have a 20 on Insectosaurus?" asked Link, looking for an excuse not to fight.

The robot was now within range as it raised it's foot above the group, ready to stomp them flat into the street.

"Wow! Would you look at the size of that-" B.O.B. began.

"FOOT!" Dr. Cockroach screamed.

Everyone, except B.O.B. jumped out of the way in time before the foot crashed down upon the blob. As the robot stomped away, it would lift it's foot, revealing B.O.B. stuck to it like a piece of gum.

"I got him, you guys! I got-"

 _STOMP!_

"Don't worry, I won't let go! I'm wearing him down-!"

 _STOMP!_

"Please tell me he's slowing down!"

The group could only watch as B.O.B. was repeatedly stomped on under the robot's foot and brought back up, completely unharmed.

"Uh, should we help him?" asked Jack.

"No, he's fine." Link disagreed.

"Get to the city, Link. I'll catch up with you as soon as I can." ordered Dr. Cockroach before the fish-man departed to find a manhole. The mad genius turned to look at a cable car tied to a semi-truck on the side of the road with a maniacal smile.

"Or maybe you'll have to catch up with me. Jack, how do you feel about riding with me?" He asked the white-haired lad.

"Oh, please no." Jack groaned, knowing this probably won't end well for him.

* * *

Everything was quiet in the city of San Francisco now that everyone of it's citizens has evacuated to stand clear of the robot's rampage that could destroy the city and cost a million innocent people's lives. Cars scattered in a few spots as some people were in such a state of panic prior to the evacuation. A deadly still silence filled the air along with a light whistle of wind. It was almost like a ghost town. But unfortunately, there was still only one person there: Susan, who was hiding from the robot's attack, but little did she know of what was to come eventually. As she looked at her reflection in the windows of a building, the ground shook gently with the slight hum and she knew immediately what is was. She gasped in terror and kept her back against the building wall, hopefully to avoid being detected. Carefully and cautiously, Susan snuck around the corner and, with some sheer luck, there was nothing there.

Maybe if she was quiet enough, the robot wouldn't find her, she thought. So she stepped out of her hiding spot and moved down the street, but knocked down a streetlight accidentally. Susan cringed, but kept going. Just a few more steps down the empty street, when a sound behind her froze her blood and forced her to stop in her tracks. The metallic sound that made her slowly turn around and as a result, she gasped with eyes wide as dinner plates when she saw the robot standing there behind some buildings, staring down at her with it's haunting one eye. It was right here in the city with her! Just then, it hit her with the blue beam again, which made her shield her eyes from it's brightness. Susan moved around to try an get out of it's viewpoint, but the beam followed her before it suddenly turned red. And this wasn't a good sign. The beam when away, but it's eye was now red as well. At that very moment, in her moment of fear, Susan instinctively did the only thing she could think of.

She started to run for her life as the giant mechanical beast smashed through the buildings it was behind, beginning to chase after her. Susan moved out of the way of the falling debris in her direction as she ran as her life depended on it. She screamed as she hotfooted through the streets to avoid being crushed to death, while dodging more debris as the robot gained on her. She grabbed onto the edge of a parking garage and jumped with a yelp when a car was smashed into the wall on the side. As she climbed onto the parking garage and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, she wondered where Jack could be. Coming up to one building she jumped high, but didn't make it as she was now gripping onto the roof, ripping off shingles to save herself from falling to her death.

"No! No! No! NO! Ahhhhhhhh!" She screamed as she losing her grip and fell, only to feel her feet immediately touch the pavement, revealing that she was only a couple inches off the ground.

"Oh."

But then she screamed again when the building was impaled by a billboard beside her as she remembered the robot catching up. Susan took off running again, going down a couple lanes until she abruptly tripped over a car and fell onto the ground. She turned to see the robot was now right above as she sweated and shivered with fear gripping her heart and almost paralyzing her body. But then she noticed the car at her feet, which gave her an idea. It was long shot, but it'll have to do.

She placed the car on her feet and started to skate away from the robot down the street, using her other foot and give her used one a boost. Her other foot picked up another car along the way and she slid down the steel hill road on her makeshift skates, flailing her arms about since she had no experience with skating before.

"Okay. Okay. I got this." She whispered to herself, trying to steady her balance.

At the same time from underneath the streets, Link was shooting through the pipes in the city's sewer system. He zigzagged in different directions until he shot upward, unintentionally running head-first into a manhole cover.

"Ow!" He wailed from the sudden pain.

He totally should've seen that coming. While trying to recover from that unfortunate incident, he shakily removed the cover and crawled up to the surface, soaking wet from the sewer water.

"Yeah, that hurt."

But as he struggled to a stance, he was hit by a zooming cable car constructed by Dr. Cockroach from behind out of nowhere. Jack was on the car as well, clinging to the seat as tightly as he could.

"Get in! I have a plan!" shouted Dr. Cockroach to Link before he pushed a red button which made the rocket cable car go into maximum overdrive, making Link fly smack into the back of the car.

Dr. Cockroach steered and swerved the car down various streets while letting out his evil laugh as his two reluctant passengers tried their best to to get sick from the amount of speed nor to fall from their seats. The robot was up ahead of them with B.O.B. still stuck to it's foot. He then noticed a deserted hot dog stand.

"Hot dogs!" He cheered as he grabbed them and was about to stuff the whole thing in his mouth when the foot came down again, squishing him once more.

"Alright, you two! I'm going to pull up alongside it!" Dr. Cockroach announced while steering up from behind the robot. "Link, you get up in there, get to it's central processing unit and..."

He trailed off when he saw B.O.B. on the thing's foot while they were coming in fast and about drive underneath.

"Hey, guys! Catch me!" He shouted and jumped off the foot towards the car.

"No, B.O.B.!" Dr. Cockroach and Link protested loudly at the same time, but the blob stuck himself against the two in the back of the car. Dr. Cockroach was no longer at the helm, meaning they drove out of control. Jack saw that they were heading straight for a dead end, leading to the ocean. He jumped out of the cable car, right before it broke through the railing and into the water. Jack stumbled to sit up and looked towards the water where the rest and landed in.

"I'm never doing that again." He grumbled.

The sounds of destruction made Jack look to see that the robot was stomping it's out of the city and into the water towards the bridge. And then he remembered Susan. So he got up with his staff in hand and ran off before summon the wind to lift up off the ground and into the direction of the bridge.

* * *

 _"Let's go! Let's go! Keep it moving! Hey, no honking!"_

The soldier suddenly saw Susan skating toward him. He yelped and dunked to shield himself. Fortunately, Susan jumped over the toll booth, narrowly avoiding the sergeant. She landed on the other side of the tool booth and skated clumsily towards the bridge, dodging cars.

"Excuse me! Coming through! On your right! No control!" She was luckily enough to miss the cars and not hit anyone.

As she made it onto the Golden Gate Bridge, a guy driving a truck up ahead noticed her in his rearview mirror and looked behind him to see if what he was saw was correct. However, he lost focus on his driving and hit against the wall with the side of the truck, causing it to swerve out of control and finally fell on it's side in the middle of the road, blocking the traffic. Susan gasped when she saw this and knew she couldn't just leave it there, people are already getting hurt enough. One car and crashed against the wreckage while others behind stopped. When Susan saw the robot in the water coming closer, she had to act fast. Slipping out of her "skates", she rushed over to the truck to lend a hand.

"Okay, it's gonna be okay!" She assured the drivers, about to lift up the truck. "Look, I'm gonna get you out of there! Hold on a second! You have to get off the bridge before it-!"

The driver of the smaller car screamed after he got out of his vehicle and ran away in terror when he witnessed something behind Susan, causing her look behind her, only to fall back onto her stomach when the robot's claw reached out to try and grab her only to get caught on the cables. Susan saw that the robot was already standing at the edge of the bridge, ready to tear it down with civilians screaming.

"Susan!"

Jack landed near her in time to rush over to help her.

"Jack! Where have you been?!" screamed Susan while trying to crawl away from robot.

"Do you really want to know?!" Jack screamed back as he hopped over the dividers and grab her arm.

He did he very best to help get Susan away from her doom, when the robot started wobbling the bridge violently and opened up what seemed to be the mouth full of rotating "teeth" what looked like power drills. Jack held on tightly to the railing on the other end of the bridge while holding onto to Susan. The bridge was titled just to enough to pour the vehicles into the mouth while Jack grabbed onto the bars of the railing with one hand and gripping his staff and holding onto Susan's finger with another, trying to keep her from falling and getting eaten. Sadly, though, Jack had a minimum amount of strength in him to hold onto Susan any longer, due to her size.

"No! No! Get away from me!" She shrieked with fright, kicking her feet. "Don't let go of me, Jack! Please don't let go!"

"I...am trying...!" He strained, holding onto her as best he could.

But when all hope seemed lost, Insectosaurus was lured towards the bridge as he let out a roar of challenge while he steadied the bridge with his claws, bringing Jack and Susan back onto the pavement. They both sighed in relief at seeing one of the new friends come to their aid in their time of need. Insectosaurus shot two jets of some kind of silk from his nostrils into the robot's eyes, which made it red from irritation.

"It's about time you got here." Jack remarked while nursing his strained muscle from holding onto Susan.

Jack saw Dr. Cockroach, Link, B.O.B. joining them on the bridge while passing cars. A worn-out Link stopped when a women stepped out of a car and screamed at the sight of him before hopping back into the car. Link was not in the mood for the people's dread of him, so he just slammed the car door behind her and hopped over to face Insectosaurus.

"Hey, furball. Where've you been?" He asked.

The bug kaiju answered back with a roar.

"Yeah, I know. Papa's a little out of shape." exclaimed Link when he slapped a hand on his pot belly.

"It kinda hurts to see you here right after making me endure that extreme cable car ride." scolded Jack.

"Excuse me!" Susan piped up, trying to get a word in. "He's trying to kill me! Why is it doing that?! Why would it-AHH!"

She was interrupted when the robot grabbed her with it's claw.

"Susan!" Jack shouted.

He felt worried over the poor giantess's life and this feeling inside of him for her increased, yet he still didn't know why it did. Suddenly, Susan started to free herself from the claw's grip by using her strength to lift the fingers off of her with all her might, much to shock and surprise of the monsters. The drooping side of the rood beneath her started to crumble into pieces. A car full of people was about to fall into the ocean below when Susan stuck her foot in the way, saving them.

"Wow!" Link exclaimed, impressed.

"You can do it, Susan!" Jack encouraged.

"Yeah, you're doing good!" The enthusiastic B.O.B. shouted, giving her a thumbs up.

"I'm doing everything!" screamed Susan angrily.

"What are you idiots waiting for? Help us out already! That thing's gonna kill us all!" Jack commanded, trying to motivate the monsters to fight.

"Not for long." Link said with determination. "Come on, you guys! Let's take this thing down!"

Then Link ran towards the robot and lunged at it, only to be bounced back by the protective barrier on it's body. The now dazed Link staggered as if he were drunk and passed out.

"Ugh." groaned Jack, face-palming and shaking his head.

"A deflector shield." Dr. Cockroach cried as if met with a challenge. "Typical."

Jack climbed up on the claw while Susan hold onto it and tried to used his ice abilities to freeze the drill in the base of the claw to slow it down. Dr. Cockroach, on the other hand, crawled up Susan's back and managed to jump onto the robot's gaping maw.

"You can't crush a cockroach!" He cackled before he got caught onto the rotating teeth and spun around and around in all directions as it tried to much on him. The dizzy and disoriented mad scientist made it to the control unit of the robot.

"Okay, here we go." He panted as he tried to connect to zapping wires together by the tips. The result, naturally, caused Dr. Cockroach to be blasted back into a wall.

Unknown to him, that by connected those two wires, caused the robot's eye to turn on it's beam directly into Insectosaurus's eyes, putting him in a trace.

"Insectosaurus! Insectosaurus!" Susan and Jack both screamed to waken the giant bug, but to no avail.

"B.O.B." Jack called to the distracted blob.

"What?" He answered.

"Help us!"

"Oh, sorry. I was staring at this bird over there." B.O.B. chuckled, obviously focused on something unimportant in a time like this.

"We need to get these people off the bridge!" explained Susan.

"Got it!" B.O.B. misinterpreted what she said when he picked up a car full of people and was about to toss them over the other side of the bridge, when Jack stopped him.

"No, B.O.B. Move the dividers!" He corrected him.

"Oh. My bad."

The blue mass giggled, placing the car back where he got it. He picked up the first concrete divider and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Go, go, go, go!" Jack and Susan ordered the people together and everyone took the opportunity to drive away off the bridge to safety. Susan was about to loose her grip.

"Link!"

But the fishman was still passed out from the impact against the robot's shield and B.O.B. was getting full and sick from eating too much dividers.

"I don't feel so good." He groaned.

It was just her and Jack now, but she wondered how much strength he had in him. Then she noticed the robot's left calf still tied up, giving her an idea.

"Jack, how much strength you got?" She asked.

"Just enough to hold onto you when you were about to fall." He answered.

"Okay, I have a plan!" She instructed. "You grabbed a cable connected to that claw and I'll grab this one."

"Are you sure?" asked Jack with uncertainty in his voice.

"Yes! We can do this!"

Jack rushed over and grabbed a free cable from the tied-up claw while Susan loosened her hold on the free one and grabbed a cable of her own. Then the two worked together in pulling both cables at once to tilt the robot forward, but they both released their grip when they saw the robot about to collapse on them. Susan quickly grabbed the unconscious Link and ran away from the direction of the falling alien with Jack close behind her. Dr. Cockroach made it out of the robot's body just in time before it fell onto the bridge and into the water, tearing the structure apart from the middle in the process. Then the tower started to give in and came down into the center underneath the robot's head, severing it off and completely decapitating it. With it's robot separated from it's body, the robot lost power and died. The entire empty side of the bridge collapsed into pieces. As soon as the dust settled, the monsters all looked to see what had happened. Link regained consciousness at that moment.

"Alright, let's take this thing down." He slurred while still in a daze before he got crushed with a beam.

Susan and Jack both stood at the edge of the destroyed bridge to see the robot's eyes shut off. The giantess smiled with relief that it was all over now.

"I'm glad that's over with." replied Jack.

"You said it." Susan nodded.

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, Susan was being watched from out space on Gallaxhar's planet as he had witness the whole battle from his computer screens and was about to explode, knowing that he'll never get what he was after now that his robot was destroyed.

 _"Retrieval has failed. Don't get upset. It happens to everyone."_ The computer explained.

Gallaxhar growled with fury at his failure. "That lower life-form thinks she can steal my Quantonium?! Send in another probe at once!"

 _"Quantonium cannot be retrieved via robot. Carbon-based life-form, locally known as Susan, is now too strong."_

"Oh, you think because you're all big and strong that you can destroy my robot probe and send me running and hiding?!" ranted Gallaxhar at the frozen image of Susan. "My days of running and hiding are over."

As he spoke, an assortment of teacups floated around him and he poured himself a cup of hot tea, then added a sugar cup and some cream, stirring it to perfection with a spoon.

"Computer, set a course for Earth. I will retrieve the Quantonium myself, even if I need to rip it out of her body one cell at a time!" Gallaxhar snarled, before blowing on his tea and sipping through his earlobe, but it's heat burned him from there, forcing him to spit it out from his mouth. He held onto his ear to null the pain.

 _"Careful, it's hot."_ warned the computer.


	10. Chapter 10

After the victorious defeat of the alien robot, the government was grateful, while some were a little peeved at the collateral damage, especially the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge, leaving it as nothing now, but the spoils of war. So now, the monsters were being transported in the aircraft to a yet-to-be-disclosed destination while inside, Susan was going excitedly about how she actually destroyed a giant robot and survived.

"Three weeks ago, if you asked me to defeat a giant alien robot, I would have said, "No can do". But I did it! Me!" Susan elaborated giddily like a schoolgirl at her achievement.

"I helped too, you know." Jack reminded her.

"Oh, right. Sorry. _WE_. We did it. Didn't mean to leave you out." She continued. "I'm still buzzing. Did you see how strong we were? There probably isn't a jar in the world I can't open."

"You don't say." said Jack.

"That's right. We make a pretty good team, you and me." Susan told him, smiling.

"Yeah. I guess we do."

Jack added, "I don't think I've ever met a woman like in a long time. Granted, that no one has been able to see me over the years."

"Don't flatter yourself much. You'll never meet any other woman like me." Susan confirmed.

"You were positively heroic, you two." Dr. Cockroach conceded with words of encouragement. He didn't know, because he wasn't looking, but B.O.B. was mimicking his hand and arm gestures. "I especially loved you saved all those people on the bridge. It was a nice touch. Weren't they amazing, Link?"

He asked the fishman, who was just sitting in the jeep with his back turned to the group, appearing to be sulking from looking bad out there in battle.

"Yeah, they were great." He answered sarcastically. "Really cool. Loved it."

"Oh, poor Link." Dr. Cockroach mocked his misery with a smug smile, making Link frown. "After all that tough talk, you were out-monstered by a girl. No wonder you're depressed."

"Hey! I'm not depressed. I'm just tired." Link denied.

"Why are you tired? You didn't do anything." explained B.O.B.

"Well, I haven't been sleeping well. Alright?" defended Link, annoyed as he tried to cover up his pitiful image. "I got sleep apnes...apnea. Whatever. It's not fun."

Jack shook his head with a playful smile.

"Everybody has bad days, Link. Not everyone can be perfect." He said.

"Yeah." Susan agreed with a nod. "So Link's a little rusty."

"I think the correct term would be sleep deprived." Jack acknowledged.

"Yep. And you'll be back to you're old self in no time. And so will I." Susan smiled.

She still had her thoughts about Derek and their honeymoon plans, which kept her going. But Jack was starting to feel jealous about this Derek person she talks about. It always brought a frown to his face and the aura that enshrouds him decrease in temperature to match the cold in which he was born in. It took all his bearing strength to not cry from the idea of being turned down himself. Just then, B.O.B. spoke up.

"What happened to the 'there isn't a jar in the world I can't open' stuff? Wait. Did you find a jar that you couldn't open? Were there pickles in it? Where's the giant jar of pickles?!"

"It was a figure of speech, B.O.B." Jack told him.

"What my associate is trying to say is that we all think that the new Susan is the cat's me-wow!" Dr. Cockroach joked and laughed before noticing that no one else was laughing, making him know who incredibly stupid that sounded.

"I'm sorry." His antennas drooped.

"Aw, thanks, you guys." Susan blushed, somewhat flattered. "That is so sweet. But I have a normal life waiting for me, you know?"

"So tell me, exactly, how this normal life thing works with you being giant." asked Link.

"I'm not gonna be a giant forever." Susan told him. "Derek won't rest until we found a cure for my...condition. We're a team."

Right when Susan mentioned 'team' in regards to her and Derek, Jack felt his stomach drop and heart break slightly.

"We could all do with a Derek. Perhaps, someday, we could make his acquaintance." said Dr. Cockroach.

"Really? You guys wanna meet Derek?" asked Susan, smiling.

Before Jack could answer, they all heard the aircraft's turbines start to die down and the entire plane make a perfect one-point landing in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. The doors opened while Monger stood on the catwalk above them which lead to the cockpit.

"First stop, Modesto!" He cried. "Ginormica, I called your family and let them know you're coming home. Now, I also called the Modesto PD and told them not to shoot at you."

"Thanks, general." She gave him a salute and walked out, bumping her head in the process. "Ow!"

"Watch you're head." said Jack.

"Thanks." She said, rubbing her forehead.

Once Susan and the rest stepped out, she got a good look at her family neighborhood with a huge smile on her face. She could almost squeal with girlish excitement. She was finally home, which means she was finally coming back to her family and Derek. But she hoped they were still gonna love her no matter what, even if she was a 50 ft. tall giantess. As they all walked, Susan gave them the low-down on how to behave in front of her parents.

"Okay, remember, these people aren't used to seeing anything like you..." She points to B.O.B. "...or you..." Then to Link. "...or you..." Then to Dr. Cockroach and finally Jack. "They'll probably be fine with you, but still. So just be, you know, cool. Just be, you know...follow lead."

She should've been looking where she was going for she had accidentally stepped on the fence around her house. Then Link, Dr. Cockroach and B.O.B. suddenly went wild, smashing more fence boards, misinterpreting her instruction by literally doing what she just did. Jack just stared dumbfounded with no words. Just as the three were about give a car heck, Susan stopped them before they could do any more damage.

"Guys, stop! That was an accident! Don't destroy anything!" Susan yelled in panic, hoping they won't give a bad first impression to her family.

B.O.B. nonchalantly tossed his so-called weapon away, breaking something accidentally, forgetting what Susan just said, making her drop her head in annoyance.

"Susan?" She heard a familiar voice and saw her mother standing there on the front porch with her father, along with her friends.

"Susie Q!" Carl chirped, overjoyed at seeing his daughter at last.

It filled Susan's heart with glee that she was reunited with her family again.

"Mom? Daddy?" She squeaked with a large smile as she got to her knees and lowered her head and hugged her parents with her large hands. Jack smiled, feeling happy for Susan.

"Did they experiment on you?" Wendy asked with concern in her voice, hoping that her daughter wasn't made any dangerous that she appeared.

"No, Mom. I'm fine." Susan assured soothingly.

Wendy and Carl both stared fearfully at Link, Dr. Cockroach and B.O.B. who all shared sheepish smiles while waiting for them to scream or run away when they saw them. Then Wendy and Carl saw Jack, but didn't look as scared at him. In fact, Jack looked perfectly normal to him.

"It's okay. They're with me." Susan reminded them. "These are my new friends."

"Oh, Derek!" B.O.B. cried and rushed to give Wendy a big hug and swirled her around, mistaking her as Derek. "I missed you so much, thinking that we'd someday be together again! It's the only thing that got me through prison. I love you! I love this man!"

When he hugged her, he pushed Wendy into his giggly body.

"No, B.O.B.! That's my mother! You're suffocating her!" screamed Susan.

He slowly spat her back out onto the grass, leaving her covered in slime.

"Are you alright, honey?" asked Carl.

"I taste ham." Wendy gasped.

"Sorry, mom. He's just a hugger." She winced at her friend's dumb behavior in front of her parents. She then noticed one other person missing. "Where's Derek?"

"He's at work, sweetie." answered Wendy, still covered in slime.

"You know how he is about his career." Carl stated.

"We're not gonna celebrate without him."

Susan began to leave to go find her beloved, when her mother stopped her.

"Susan! What do I do with all your little friends?" She asked, sounding worried about being left to care for monsters.

"Just put out some snacks! They'll eat anything!" Susan's departing voice responded.

Dr. Cockroach immediately started eating out of the garbage, grossing out Wendy. While Susan's friend left inside the house to call some people for the celebration.

"Ambrosia!"

Jack sighed, before approaching Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, hoping they won't have a bad impression of him.

"Uh, hi?" He started out delicately.

They both turned to see him.

"Oh, hello." Wendy responded.

"I'm...sorry about them." He gestured to the trio. "They just haven't adjusted to life outside of the prison."

"Prison?" Carl repeated.

"Yeah, they put us in a monster prison to keep up from the outside world and wrecking havoc or whatever. I guess they just don't trust people like us. Can you blame them?"

"I sure can!" jabbed Wendy. "They put our little girl in captivity, just because of her new size!"

"I know." Jack nodded. "But what do you expect from those that really are monsters?"

"You don't look very...monstrous." Carl said.

"That's because I'm not. I'm a spirit that's been around for 300 years. I bring winter, snow days, icicles, you name it. I'm Jack Frost, by the way."

This brought confusion to the parents' face when he said this.

"Jack Frost?" asked Carl.

"You mean to say you're _the_ Jack Frost from the stories?" asked Wendy.

"You actually exist?" asked Carl with disbelief.

"Yes." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Uh, you're a bit younger than I remember." Wendy said gently.

"Would you prefer that I'd look old? Because of the hair?" Jack said ruffling his silvery white locks.

"Oh, no, no, no." Wendy denied. "Well, yes."

Jack let out a deep sigh.

"It's gonna be tough having adults see me in person." He said to himself.

"Don't you worry. I suppose it'll be fine once you get to know everyone for tonight. If you don't mind them." Carl jabbed a finger towards the trio who gave bemused stares.

* * *

That night, a party was being held in the backyard in honor of Susan's return from prison, but the appearance of the monsters left everyone unnerved about having them around. Link turned on a radio to an upbeat song as went around the guess, looking cool and sassy, while they recoiled in terror and backed away from him.

"How's it going? Qué pasa, girlfriend?" He smirked, like a high school jock showing off to his friends. "Way to cut up a rug, Insecto!"

Insectosaurus was also at the party in some way. The giant bug was just standing in the middle of the neighborhood, growling happily and dancing in a way. Link got up on the diving board to the swimming pool.

"Whoo! Who wants to go for a swim with the Link?" He jumped high into the air, performing a flip and dove down, but ended up landing painfully on the end of the board before falling into the water.

Jack just sat idly in a lawn chair, bored out of his mind while still thinking about Susan.

"Penny for your thoughts, Jack?" Wendy came over and sat down next to him.

"How much?" He exhaled.

"You look puzzled. What's it about?" She persisted.

"It's just that Susan-"

"What about Susan?" Her face made a look of realization. "Are you in love with her?"

"In love?" Jack said with surprise. "But I've only met her like a couple days ago."

"It's written all over your face. I know love when I see it." Wendy remarked. "I'm sorry to break it to you, but Susan's heart belongs to someone else."

"I am fully aware of that." He grunted.

"Sorry if I sounded rough. I didn't mean to bring that on you, but it's the truth." She explained. "When a couple are married, they are devoted to each other. They are to be together till death to them apart. Love is a powerful thing, but marriage seals it forever. If you ever want to be with someone and have them by your side, that day will come for you too."

Jack wasn't even paying attention for at that moment, from out of the corner of his vision, he saw what he could've sworn was the shadow of a Nightmare creeping past some houses just a block down. In his mind, he knew exactly what this meant. The Boogeyman was up to no good and the Guardian needed his help immediately. He knew what he had do to. He needed to go see North right away.

"I need to go somewhere. Bye." He quickly said as he shot up from his seat and ran towards the fence.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Carl shouted in confusion.

"There's something I gotta do. I'm sorry, but I have to go now." Jack said.

"But you can't leave us here with them!" Wendy complained.

"It's fine! Trust me. They're not gonna hurt anyone! It was good meeting the both of you. Tell Susan I said 'goodbye' when she gets here and hope her Derek doesn't dump her." He ended his sentence with a somewhat annoyed tone before he hopped on top of the fence, then onto the roof of a neighboring house before he summoned the wind to float him into the air and out of sight, leaving Wendy and Carl speechless.

"Okay, that was kind of amazing." Carl responded, impressed.

Meanwhile, B.O.B. was trying to put the moves on a plate of green Jell-O.

"Hi. I'm Benzoate-Ostylezene-Bicarbonate. Or you can call me B.O.B., whichever's easier." He chuckled. "Did I come on too strong? I'm sorry. I'm a little rusty. I've been in prison my whole life. Why did I mention prison?"

He pounded the table in frustration, making the Jell-O jiggle.

"Oh, I didn't mean to scare you." He groaned before leaving. "I'm just gonna go. Uh, I feel so stupid."

At this point, the guest were becoming to afraid of the monster's presence that they all hid under an umbrella, in the hopes of protecting themselves.

"Alright, everybody just stay calm." Carl instructed them. "Whatever you do, don't provoke them."

"Anyone care for an Atomic Gin Fizz?" asked Dr. Cockroach, who was having his own little juice bar, making alcoholic beverages the old fashioned way, but with science. "It's got quite a..."

Whatever concoction he was shaking up, suddenly exploded in his face, which left him and the others covered in ash.

"...kick." He finished with a wheezing voice.

"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHHH!" Link suddenly arose from the water, growling and roaring in pain with reddened eyes.

"Chlorine! Chlorine in my eyes!" He shrieked, marching out and looking like Frankenstein's monster, since he was having trouble seeing.

That was the finally straw. Everyone panicked, screaming and running away, believing they were trying to attack them.

"They're turning on us!"

"Everyone run for your lives!" Wendy screamed.

All of the guests, including Mr. and Mrs. Murphy broke through the fence and took off running away from the trio after all that, leaving them the only ones left in what was left of the party.

"What are they running away from?" asked B.O.B, holding his eyeball out with his hand.


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own either movies.**

 **To Matt: (in response to my Bendy story) Just for that, I don't think I'm going to write any of my stories now that you're just gonna badmouth me. It takes a lot of time for me to get motivation to write more chapters, okay? Writer's block gets to us all. Why can't you understand that?! Are you just using me to write my stories just to entertain yourself? I'm not gonna tolerate that kind of critique. So stop being a goddamn baby!**

 **Thank you. Please read and review!**

* * *

Jack had perched onto the window to North's workshop before he landed on the floor inside, seeing the yetis doing their job and the elves just doing elf things, wandering about like curious puppy dogs. Jack approached North who was standing by the control console.

"Jack, I was hoping you'd arrive at some point." said the Russian said, already sensing his presence as he turned to face him. "Have you decided?"

The winter spirit sighed and wanted to give his best answer.

"I'm still thinking about it. But if it's all the same to you, I'd like to go along with you guys, even if this is the Moon's answer after so many years of silence." acquiesced Jack.

"Funny you should mention that." North said, holding up a finger before walking up to the Globe. "Man in Moon and I were speaking and he sends condolences for his lack of response to you. But, you see, the Man in the Moon assembles these Guardians of Childhood to watch over the children of the world. He revives those who are good to children and gives a role of Guardian based on what lies in their center. It takes very long for him to chose as Guardian. Your choosing took longer because you're young. It took 50 years for Man in Moon to choose me and he has not spoken a word to me before that either. Luckily, I had my elves and yetis there with me. He created Sandy, you know. Out of the dreamsand that he creates to the children with dreams and he was chosen not long after he was born. So you see, Man in Moon keeps quiet to help you understand your purpose on your own. He wants you to understand why he has made you who you are now."

"Oh, I...I see." Jack stuttered, surprised by North's story. "I never knew."

"Well, now you do." explained North. "Have you found your purpose yet?"

"I don't know. I wish I could."

"You just need to dig a little deeper." exclaimed Father Christmas. "I may not have been alone for years like you, but I know what it's to be ignored. Like you, I was scared and confused when I was awakened for first time."

"But I'll always just be Jack Frost. Just an expression." Jack said unenthusiastically.

"Ignore that hobble-gobble. That is nonsense. If you can prove that you're more than just a phrase or a lyric in a song, than maybe they would believe in you."

Jack smiled at that, with a little confidence inside of him. At that moment, they both turned to see Bunny and Sandy rush towards them. Bunny stopped when he saw Jack and looked annoyed and angry.

"Oh, look who decided to show up." He rolled his eyes, seeing that his so-called enemy was here.

"You're just lucky I'm here to help." Jack shot back.

"Whatever. Look, we've got trouble, mate." Bunny told North, now getting serious.

* * *

Tooth was having some trouble down at her palace and the remaining Guardians needed to go help her right now. So North led everyone down to the sleigh laughing base to get there by his own means of travel. Jack was insisting that he could just fly there on his own, but North wanted him to at least ride in his sleigh with them, much to the spirit's reluctance. Upon arriving at the stables, North commanded his yetis to prepare the sleigh.

"Boys!" He ordered, clapping his hands. "Ship shape, as soon as you can!"

"North, wait! I can't fly on my own! Honestly." Jack tried to get a word in over North's voice as he walked in with the rest of the Guardians while the yetis worked. "There is no way I'm climbing into some rickety old...sleigh."

He ended his sentence with a hint of confusion while watched the doors being opened and from out of the dark, the reindeer galloped outward into sight, snorting and grunting while they pulled North's sleigh out. By the look of it, it wasn't any old-fashioned-looking sleigh that Jack was expecting. The exterior design looked almost futuristic and state-of-the art complete with a red paint job with black and white striped accents, wings on the sides and even a small globe on the front. Jack eyed the exceedingly upgrade sleigh gobsmacked while North looked smug.

"Alright, one ride. But that's it." said Jack finally, making up his decision to ride along with them.

"Everyone loves the sleigh." North commented triumphantly. "Bunny, what are you waiting for?"

Bunny was hesitant about riding in the sleigh.

"Uh, I think my tunnels might be faster, mate." He stuttered, tapping the exterior with his foot. "And safer."

"Bah! Get in!" North scoffed and grabbed Bunny by the scruff of his neck and placed him in the back with Sandy and Jack.

"Buckle up!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Where are the bloody seatbelts?!" Bunny asked, scared for his life and hoped North wasn't joking, only to hear him cackle.

"Ha! That was just expression." He smirked when he saw the rabbit's reaction. "Are we ready?"

A few yetis and elves were still busy making adjustments to the sleigh, when they backed off as North was about to take off.

"Ya!" North cracked the reins, making the reindeer charge forward down the icy tunnel.

Bunny yelped in fear and gripped the side tightly, leaving scratch marks in the process while Jack quietly chuckled at him.

"Out of the way!" North shouted.

North made the sleigh go faster and steered around the twisting tunnel in maximum speed while Bunny still screamed with terror. Jack saw a tower of stairs with yetis waving at them as they zoomed by. North cackled from the fun he was having right now. He always loved riding in his sleigh and this was always his favorite part. He then steered the sleigh into a loop.

"I hope you like the loop-de-loops!" He told them.

However, Bunny looked sick from the speed and about ready to throw up.

"I hope you like carrots!" He groaned.

Sunny was having the time of his life, holding his arms up like he was riding a roller coaster in a theme park.

"Here we go!" North cracked the reins once more and the raced towards the end of the tunnel, leading outside where they rode off a ramp and finally into the air with Jack whooping with joy, but Bunny's fear was getting the better of him.

"Let's go!"

The sleigh flew about the workshop and into the direction of Tooth's palace. Jack stood at the back of the sleigh to see the view of the workshop far behind and below as they flew farther away.

"Hey, Bunny. Check out this view-" Jack said to Bunny, before he suddenly flew off the sleigh from the wind.

"Oh! North! He's...!" Bunny shouted, somehow suddenly concerned that Jack might've fallen to his death or something. So he took a small, worried peak over the seat to see that Jack was actually sitting on the runners.

"Aw, you do care." Jack mocked jokingly with a smug grin.

"Oh, rack off, ya bloody showpony!" Bunny growled, angered by the winter spirit's little practical joke.

"Hold on, everyone!" North told his passengers. "I know a shortcut!"

"Oh, oh, strewth! I knew we should've taken the tunnels!" Bunny whined.

North held a snow globe up to his face and whispered to it, "I'd say Tooth Palace."

A small model of said palace appeared in the globe, confirming the desired destination and North threw it far ahead of them in their path, which created a magical portal and he flew the sleigh right through and then they were now where they needed to be. Suddenly, far up ahead, North saw something flying straight toward them.

"What?"

The cloud came closer and everyone saw that is was a group of Nightmares running past them, screeching. The Nightmares were darting past them, barely even noticing them, causing the sleigh to swerve left to right to avoid getting hit. Sandy made a golden umbrella to block the black sand from hitting him. Jack saw that they were going after Tooth's fairies and devouring them to carry them off to their master.

"They're taking the Tooth Fairies!"

Jack flew up to grab one tiny fairy before a Nightmare could catch it with it's mouth. Jack landed back in the sleigh and cradled the fairy in his hands.

"Hey, little Baby Tooth. You okay?" He asked it soothingly.

She nodded and chittered in affirmation. North steered the sleigh into an open of the mountain where the palace was located. The place was currently deserted as you would imagine, which meant the rest of the tiny fairies were taken. The sleigh steered all around the palace, chasing after one remaining Nightmare. North looked determined and angry before he passed the reins over to Jack.

"Here, take this!" He ordered and stood on the head of the sleigh, unsheathing his sword.

"Uh...hyah!" Jack shouted, crackling the reins.

With one swipe of his sword, North destroyed the Nightmare, which released canisters from it's belly. Bunny picked one up and knew what it was.

"They're stealing the teeth!"

Sandy wiped some black sand of his sleeve and looked at knowingly. Jack didn't see where he was going and was about to hit a pillar.

"Jack, look out!" North warned him just in time for Jack to steer the sleigh to a rough landing. Everyone looked to find Tooth flittering about, panicking and exclaiming with worry.

"Tooth! Are you alright?" shouted North.

She looked all around for her fairies, but they were all gone.

"They took my fairies! And the teeth! All of them!" She gasped, hurt by the revelation brought upon her and her poor fairies. North, Bunny and Sandy all climbed up to be by her side. Baby Tooth came out of hiding behind Jack and flew up to her creator, while the latter gasped with relief as she held her in her hands.

"Oh, thank goodness! One of you is alright!" Tooth smiled.

Just then, a chilling, all-too-familiar voice echoed all over the palace, "I have to say this is very, very exciting. The Big Four, all in one place. I'm a little starstruck."

Pitch, the Boogeyman, appeared above them in all his dark glory while the Guardians all took a stance, ready to fight him until the Nightmare King continued, "Did you like my show on the Globe, North? Gotcha all together, didn't I?"

"Oh!" North grunted.

"Pitch!" Tooth flew up towards him with unnatural rage and was one inch away to pounding the Boogeyman into submission. Pitch disappeared before she could get to him. "You have got 30 seconds to return my fairies-!"

"Or what?" He taunted, appearing from another spot. "You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?"

"Why are you doing this?" North demanded, point his sword at him.

"Maybe I want what you have." explained Pitch. "To be believed in. Maybe I'm tired of hiding under beds."

"Maybe that's where you belong!" Bunny argued.

Pitch appeared underneath him with a sigh.

"Oh, go suck an egg, rabbit."

He vanished into a shadow before Bunny had time to grab him. Then Pitch noticed Jack with him, holding his staff out to defend himself.

"Hang on, is that Jack Frost?" He asked, chuckling. "Since when are you all so chummy?"

"We're not." Jack glared.

"Oh, good."

Jack jumped and saw Pitch behind him as he raised his staff at him. "A neutral party. Then I'm gonna ignore you. But you must be used to that by now."

That did it. Bunny had had enough of listening to this man in the shadows mock them so he decided it was time to take action now or never.

"Pitch!" He roared, hopped after the Boogeyman and ready to clobber him to a pulp. "Shut up, you shadow-sneaking ratbag! Come 'ere!"

But, of course, Pitch had already disappeared before Bunny could make the first hit. Tooth joined in and grabbed one of Bunny's boomerangs before she flew towards Pitch on another level with a battle cry, ready to give him what for. But before she could, a Nightmare materialized next to Pitch and reached out to Tooth, forcing her to back off with a scared look. Baby Tooth immediately took cover behind Jack, cowering.

"Whoa ho ho ho! Hey! Easy, girl!" Pitch calmed the Nightmare. He chuckled, conjuring a pinch of black sand and showed it to the Guardians. "Look familiar, Sandman? Took me a while to perfect this little trick. Turning dreams into Nightmares. Don't be nervous. It only riles them up more. They smell fear, you know."

Bunny cackled at him.

"What fear? Of you?" He asked, taking his boomerang back from Tooth. "No ones been afraid of you since the Dark Ages!"

"Ah, the Dark Ages." Pitch sighed happily, memories coming back to him as if it were yesterday. "Everyone frightened, miserable, such happy times for me. Oh, the power I wielded! But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light. Lifting their hearts and giving them hope. Meanwhile, everyone wrote me off as just a bad dream! Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of! There's no such thing as the Boogeyman! Well, that's all about to change."

Suddenly, the ground started to shake a little while the architecture and decor around the palace started to lose magic and it's color was beginning to darken.

"Oh, look. It's happening." Pitch chuckled darkly.

"What's happening?" asked Jack.

"Oh." Tooth whimpered.

"Children waking up now and realizing the Tooth Fairy never came. It's such a little thing, but to a child..." Pitch taunted.

"What's going on?" Jack asked concerned.

"They...they don't believe in me anymore." She squeaked, sounding broken.

And then Pitch turned to Jack saying, "Didn't they tell you, Jack? It's great being a Guardian! But there's a catch. If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect; wonder, hopes and dreams, it all goes away. And little by little, so do they."

He laughed at them, striking a nerve in the Guardians.

"No Christmas or Easter or little fairies that come in the night. By the time this alien invasion arrives to enslave humanity, within the children's view all around the globe, there will be nothing, but fear and darkness...and me. It's your turn to not be believed in."

That was it. Bunny has heard enough from the evil being's mouth, so he tossed his boomerangs at him, which he ducked outta the way of. Pitch hopped on the Nightmare's back when the boomerang swerved back towards his direction and rode off downward as the rest of the Guardians and Jack chased after him. Bunny threw his egg bombs at him which exploded into cloud of glittery, colorful dust but they were too far behind him for them to hit him. Pitch finally disappeared into the shadows before everyone landed on the ground in Tooth's Lagoon. There was a painted mural on the mountain wall of Tooth being received teeth from children, which represents what she does. North kept a battle stance, looking around with his swords out for the Boogeyman to jump out at any time, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"He's gone." He noted.

"Okay, alright, I admit it. You were right about Pitch." Bunny confessed to North.

Meanwhile, Tooth sat on the ground, clutching a tooth canister with grief. Now there were no teeth left for her in her collection. Jack sat next to her to console her.

"Sorry about the fairies." He told her.

"You should've seen them. They put up such a fight." Tooth responded while Baby Tooth flittered around.

"Why would Pitch take the teeth?" asked Jack.

"It's not the teeth he wanted." Tooth answered. "It's the memories inside them."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, not following.

"That's why we collect the teeth, Jack." She explained. "They hold the most important memories of childhood."

Tooth flapped her wings and hovered over to the mural on the Lagoon wall with Jack following her by walking on iced-patches on the water with each step he takes.

"My fairies and I watch over them. And when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them. We had everyone's here. Your's too."

"My memories?" asked Jack with wide eyes.

"From when you were young." She explained. "Before you became Jack Frost."

"But I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost."

"Well, of course, you were." Tooth said. "We were all someone before we were chosen."

"What?" Jack asked.

Meanwhile, North was chuckling while telling Sandy, "You should've seen Bunny!"

"I told you never to mention that!" Bunny hissed in response.

"The night at the pond, I just...Why I assumed..." Jack softly said. "Are you saying...are you saying I had a life? Before that, with a...with a home? And a family?"

"You really don't remember?" Tooth asked with surprise.

"All these years, the answers were right here. If I find my memories, then I'll know why I'm here. You have to show me!"

"I can't, Jack." Tooth said sadly. "Pitch has them."

"Then we have to get them back!" Jack said seriously.

Tooth gasped and saw that she was molting her feathers off. She was running out of time before the children's belief in her goes away prior to her disappearance as well. The mural's colors were starting to darken as well.

"Oh, no. The children. We're too late." She mourned, having lost all hope.

But North was determined fellow and was not at all ready to give up when all the belief was fading. Not now and not ever.

"No! No! No such thing as too late!" He yelled in denial before trying to think of a solution. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!"

Then he finally had a plan as he pointed one of his cutlasses at Bunny's face, making him flinch backwards to avoid being cut.

"Idea! Hah! _We_ will collect the teeth!" He theorized.

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy; Tooth especially.

"What?"

"We get teeth, children keep believing in you." North explained to her.

"We're talking seven continents. Millions of kids!" argued Tooth matter-of-factly.

"Give me break." scoffed North. "You know how many toys I deliver in one night?"

"And eggs I hide in one day?" added Bunny.

"And Jack, if you help us, we will get you your memories." North replied to the young winter spirit.

Tooth laughed excitedly. Bunny looked distressed by this ordeal and frowned when Sandy gave a double thumbs-up. Jack thought about this. He really wanted to see what his life was like before he became the spirit he is today.

"I'm in!" He said with a hopeful smile.


	12. Chapter 12

The Guardians arrived in the city of Shanghai, China at night to put their plan in motion. So they were all going to do Tooth's job with her to try and keep up the children's belief in her. It was no cakewalk compared to what the others do, but should be easer done than said. And hopefully, not the other way around. Everyone was hopping from one rooftop to another to try and make this like a friendly contest to how many teeth they can get. North laughed with joy while running over rooftops.

"Quickly! Quickly!" He shouted.

"Hop to it, rabbit! I'm five teeth ahead!" Jack gloated to Bunny jokingly as he raced the human-sized rabbit.

"Yeah, right!" Bunny rolled his eyes with a smirk, bragging back, "Look, I'd tell ya to stay out of my way, but really, what's the point? Because, you ain't be able to keep up with me anyway!"

"Is that a challenge, Cottontail?" Jack mocked.

"Oh, you don't wanna race a rabbit, mate." Bunny said with determined look in his eyes.

While the two tried to get ahead of one another, North was popping out of chimneys, leaving a cloud of ash. This would probably explain who he's able to fit down chimneys when delivering the toys.

"Is it a race? Is it a race? This is going to be epic!" He shouted while popping out of different chimneys in various areas while feeling that overexcited 10-year old inside of him burst out.

Tooth, on the other hand, was absolutely going full-on fangirl over the loose teeth all over the place and found it impossible to control herself. It's been forever since she had been out on the field to collect teeth, since she always counted on her fairies to do that for her.

"4 bicuspids over there! An incisor two blocks east! Is that a molar?! They're everywhere!" She shrilled with extreme delight, before she flew right into an advertisement billboard. "Ow!"

She held her nose, hurt from the impact.

"You okay?" asked Jack.

"I'm fine! Sorry, it's been a really long time since I've been out in the field." She apologized, feeling silly for getting hyperactive.

"How long is a long time?" Jack asked.

"440 years, give or take?" She responded before she gasped when she noticed to tooth under a pillow a few meters away and took off in a flash to collect it. Baby Tooth shrugged at Jack with an embarrassed look. Her maternal master just really loves teeth.

But Jack got back on track as he was about to climb into a child's room through a window, but Bunny had beaten him to it, who held the tooth at him teasingly. Jack frowned at him and shoot him with an icy blast of his staff which made him yelp in pain. Now that Shanghai was cleaned out, the Guardians sally forth on North's sleigh to St. Petersburg. North collect two teeth from two siblings sleeping together in separate beds close together.

"Twins!" He whispered, kissing their teeth out of luck.

Bunny took out five teeth from another child's pillow.

"Jackpot!" He said and noticed the gaps in the kid's teeth from the teeth used to be and looked around the room to see he had a paraphernalia of sports posters, hockey sticks, his hockey shirt on the wall and a collection of trophies that he presumably won from his games.

"Looks like you're a bit of a brumby. Eh, mate?"

North arrived in a little girl's room.

"Is piece of pie-Woah!" But before he could even reach under the pillow, Bunny opened up a tunnel under his feet to try and get the tooth first, which unfortunately caused the former to get stuck in the hole with Bunny as they both struggled to get out. Sandy came in and took the tooth himself and leaves with a boastful smile.

"No, that's my tooth! Sandy! Sandy!"

Jack jumped around with his own bag for teeth and landed in another child's room, only to fall victim to trap by Bunny, who chuckled at his misery. Elsewhere, Tooth reached under a pillow and pulled out a mouse wearing a hat instead. Baby Tooth then pins it to the wall and started beating it up and kicking it in the face before Tooth grabbed her wings to stop her.

"Woah, woah, woah! Take it easy there, champ! He's one of us! Part of the European Division. _Ça va?_ " Tooth asked the mouse, who angrily squeaked in a fit and threw it's hat down in frustration.

On they went to collect more teeth. Inside another room, Bunny lifted a pillow up, only to find a piece of paper with an arrow pointing directly at the window. Bunny turned to see North at the window, smiling and laughing before he dashed away. When Bunny finally had a tooth, he slipped on some ice on the roof created by Jack.

"Crikey!" He yelled.

Jack took the tooth from him as he slipped by and chuckled, "Yes!"

But his moment was spoiled when Sandman appeared on his dreamsand cloud and snatched it from him.

"No!"

North then went down the chimney to another house, unaware that Bunny was lighting the firewood in the fireplace underneath him to set a trap for him.

"Ho ho ho." He smirked.

There came a loud explosion.

"Ah!" North screamed.

Once in New York City near the Brooklyn Bridge, all the men presented their bags of teeth to Tooth.

"Wow! You guys collect and leave gifts as fast as my fairies!" Tooth chirped at their accomplishment.

But then the boys all look confused, making Tooth skeptical.

"You guys have been leaving gifts, right?" She asked suspiciously.

Sandy nodded happily, but shakes his head no and the rest all shared pained look, realizing they had forgotten the one thing to do _after_ they had collected the teeth. They were all lined up at a change machine at a local laundromat to collect some quarters. This was going to be a really long night, they all thought. So they quickly left quarters under the pillows where they last collected the teeth from. But after they ran out of quarters to give them, the boys improvised and left their own little gifts. North left candy canes, Bunny left Easter eggs, etc. Sandy was about to deliver a coin, but North was already there who set up a Christmas tree in the kid's room and lit it up. He laughed towards Sandy who frowned angry and tossed the quarter over his shoulder. The Guardians zoomed past a child's bedroom window, much to the boy's awestruck surprise. Then everyone left through a portal to the next city.

Unknown to them, a Nightmare was watching everything and it whinnied as it flew through the ground and arrived in Pitch's underground lair where his master was walking around his own version of the Globe, looking puzzled and annoyed, still seeing lights, meaning that the children still believed.

"The lights! Why aren't they going out!?" He demanded. His Nightmare whinnied an explanation to him. "They're collecting the teeth?!"

The captive fairies in their cages chittered and flapped their wings hyperactively with glee at the news.

"Oh, pipe down! Or I'll a pillow with you!" Pitch roared, forcing them to shut up. The Nightmare got close to his face to console him, but Pitch growled at him to back off, making the Nightmare dissipate into black sand.

"Fine. Have your last hurrah. For tomorrow, all your pathetic scrambling will be for nothing." Pitch conjured a tiny figure of Sandman out of black sand and crushed it with his hand.

* * *

Tooth and Jack were inside Jamie's room. The same child that Jack had given that sliding stunt to not too long ago. Tooth eyed the sleeping boy and gave a knowing smile towards Jack who was looking at the picture he drew of that event.

"Left central incisor, knocked out in a freak sledding accident. I wonder how that could have happened, Jack?" She smirked wryly.

"Yeah. Kids, huh?" He smiled back with a look of mischief in his eyes.

Tooth twirled her finger to hold up a coin and slipped it under Jamie's pillow, then she hovered above him, watching him sleep.

"This was always the part I liked most. Seeing the kids." She crossed her arms and sighed. "Why did I ever stop doing this?"

"Looks a little different up close, huh?" He asked.

"Thanks for being here, Jack." Tooth gave him a warm smile. "I wish I'd known about your memory. I could've helped you. And I just wanted to say I'm sorry if you thought I took all the credit."

"What do you mean?" He said, wanting to know what she meant.

"You wanted to be noticed that day. You try so hard to be believed in. And he only thought of me, instead of you." She said with a heartfelt tone.

"You heard m-"

"I did." She interrupted. "It's hard getting someone to believe in you when they believe in someone else. I'm sorry, Jack. I hope they believe in you very soon."

"They won't and they never will." He sighed, turning his back. "Believe me, I've tried. 300 years, I've tried and it's no good. I'm just as famous as you or North or Bunny."

"That's not the right attitude!" She objected, zipping into his view. "They'll believe in you! I promise they will! You have what we don't have. You've been ignored for years and you've been fine! You don't need belief to survive like us. I know, you want to be heard to placate your loneliness, I understand. But don't let me or any of us get in the way. And if you could trade it all...if you could trade your entire immortal life as a Guardian for a normal, mortal life, would you do it...for her?"

Jack looked up at her when she said that last part.

"Her?" He repeated.

"You know who I'm talking about. That giant girl?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips. "You have your eyes set on her."

"That's impossible. She's already dedicated to someone else." Jack reminded her.

Tooth tried to find words, but hesitated. Suddenly, they both saw North squeeze through the window with his sack.

"Here you are!" He squeaked and groaned as he finally made it inside with Sandy floating inside with him. Tooth shushed him, gesturing to the sleeping Jamie.

"Oh!" The Russian said with a hushed whisper. "What gives, slowpokes? How you feeling, Toothy?"

"Believed in." She grinned.

"Ha! That's what I want to hear." North exclaimed happily.

Then, Bunny came into the room through a hole and glared at them all. "Oh, I see how it is. All working together to make sure the rabbit gets last place!"

Everyone shushed him and he held up his hands in surrender.

"Uh, you think I need help to beat a bunny? Check it out, Peter Cottontail!" Jack bragged, holding up his bag of teeth, rubbing it in.

"You call that a bag 'a choppers?" scoffed Bunny and held out his own bag, which was bigger than Jack's. "Now _that's_ a bag 'a choppers."

"Gentlemen, gentlemen." North tut-tuted. "This is about Tooth, it's not a competition. But if it was..." He dropped his bag on the ground, which was ten times bigger than theirs. "I WIN! HAA!"

His loud cheering awoke young Jamie and his celebration had to be cut short when Jamie shined his flashlight on the beings in his room.

"Oh no." North squeaked with worry.

Jamie gasped at seeing the mythical legends standing right in his room.

"Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Sandman, the Tooth Fairy! I knew you'd come!" He chirped with excitement.

"Surprise!" Tooth smiled. "We came!"

"He can see us?" Jack asked.

"Most of us." Bunny exclaimed looking at him.

True to his word, to no surprise, Jack was invisible to Jamie and his light didn't show his shadow, as Jamie still didn't believe in him. Tooth gave him a look of sympathy while Jack gave her an "I told you so" look.

"Shh!" She shushed her fellow Guardians. "He's still awake."

"Sandy, knock 'I'm out!" Bunny ordered the small golden man.

The Sandman pounded his fists together, looking ready to punch the daylights out of Jamie who looked confused by his act.

"With the dreamsand, ya gumbies!" corrected Bunny.

Abby the greyhound stood on the bed and growled at Bunny, staring him down with a predatory look in her eyes, like a dog would when seeing rabbits. Bunny stood completely still, not moving a single muscle.

"No, stop! That's the Easter Bunny! What are you doing, Abby? Down!" Jamie ordered his pet, who kept her eyes on her new "prey".

"Alright, nobody panic." Bunny instructed, carefully and slowly putting his bag down on the floor.

"But that's a greyhound. Do you know what greyhounds do to rabbits?" asked Jack obviously.

"Well, I think it's a pretty safe bet he's never met a rabbit like me." Bunny replied, trying to remain calm and tough while Sandy creates a ball of dreamsand to use. "6 ft. tall, nerves of steel, master of Tai Chi and-"

Jack mischievously hits Jamie's alarm clock, making it ring loudly, which startles Abby as she looked ready to pounce.

"Crikey! Ahh!" Bunny shrieked and bounced around the room to escape the mutt.

The struggle caused Sandy to go off balance and nearly drop his ball as Bunny hopped all around the bedroom while Abby chased after him. Jamie tried to calm the dog down.

"Sandy!" North shouted when Bunny and Abby run past him.

The Sandman tossed his ball towards North, who dodged, allowing it to hit Tooth instead. She and Baby Tooth passed out with sand images of teeth above their heads. The ball ricocheted from wall to wall and struck Bunny in the face, making him pass out before it hit Abby as well. North was the last one to get hit with the dreamsand ball and images of candy canes floated around his head.

"Candy canes!" He slurred tiredly and fell fast asleep onto Jamie's bed, sending the boy bouncing into the air and landing in Sandy's arms, who jerked his head forward and dusts some sand onto Jamie, making him fall asleep as well.

"Whoops." Jack chuckled.

One of Bunny's sand-carrots sprouted arms and legs, grabbing one of North's sand-candy canes and started to dance with it, twirling it around like a baton.

"Oh, I really wish I had a camera right now."

Sandy put Jamie in bed, giving Jack a sidelong glance before he spotted a nightmare in the window. Pitch was in the area nearby. Jack turned to see it too before the dashed off. He flew out of the open window and followed the Nightmare.

"Sandy, come on! We can find Pitch!" His voiced called out.

The golden man stood by the window, thinking about this. But he couldn't just stand there while Boogeyman was reeking havoc on the other children, so he flew out to join Jack. Meanwhile, little Sophie, having awoken from the noise, came into Jamie's room. She giggled at seeing the sleeping North and tried to climb up, which caused a snow globe to fall out of his coat and onto the floor. She picked it up curiously and eyed it with wonder. Then she looked at Bunny.

"Bunny! Hop, hop, hop!" Sophie cheered, jumping up and down. The snow globe, in response to her words, set it's course for Bunny's Warren. She tripped over Abby, dropping the snow globe and opening a portal. She giggled at the pretty colors it made and walked through before it closed. That's when North jolts up, half-awake.

"Wha! Huh?"


End file.
